Good morning…
My husband Steve has been a chaplain, teacher, and wrestling coach at The Lovett School since 1996 (minus his two year stint as a college chaplain in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania). Steve works primarily with the upper school students, and he enjoys a great bond with the middle and lower school chaplains. Together their team of three writes a chaplain’s message every week. In his message from last Monday, Steve reflects on what to do when our hopes and dreams are spoiled by unexpected loss.
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Weekly Devotional – September 6th, by Rev. Steve Allen
The college football season is underway. 164 college football teams played games this past weekend. How exciting is that? However, consider that of those 164 teams, 82 of them ended with a loss. Hopes for an undefeated season? Gone. Their shot at a national championship? On life support after week one. If ever there was a time for a coach to walk into the locker room and read Jeremiah 18, this is it.
So I went down to the potter’s house and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to him… Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand… says the Lord (Jeremiah 18:3-6).
I figure any good coach has to have a lesson ready for what happens when the perfect season is spoiled. Why not Jeremiah 18? The coach has to figure out how to mold the clay a bit differently after pre-season hopes have been dashed. He can tell the players that the spoiled clay of their season has the potential to be something completely different than they could have ever dreamed, and he, the coach, will show them the way.
A few weeks ago we started the year with idealistic visions of what the new year would bring. New classes, new colleagues, for some new jobs. We kicked off the season with great hopes and expectations, and yet here we are three weeks into this thing and it may not be what we thought. Students in our classes may be more challenging than we anticipated; new colleagues may not be as collegial as we might have liked; parents may not be as supportive as we had hoped, and the football team has already lost a couple of games. Some of you may feel a bit like the players and fans of the 82 teams who lost this past weekend – a bit let down. If so, it’s a good time to consider that God has the power to remake the situation. Rather than wallowing in despair and giving up on the year, it’s important to give our dashed hopes over to the potter and look for something new to be created.
And for those who are still undefeated – if everything in your world is still working out just as you had hoped – should the day come that your team or your year takes an unpredictable turn, keep Jeremiah 18 in mind and know that we are clay in the potter’s hands.
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Again and again, our hearts are reshaped by loss. We are reworked into another vessel, as it seems good to the potter. Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? (Romans 9:20-21, MSG).
Though the life of our dreams may feel spoiled in the potter’s hands – Still, Eternal One, You are our Father. We are just clay, and You are the potter. We are the product of Your creative action, shaped and formed into something of worth (Isaiah 64:8, VOICE).
…Sue…
