In the Artisan’s Hands
If you are from Missouri, you are familiar with Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in the city of Branson. It was a regular summer destination for my family. Shows, rides, taffy, funnel cake, ginormous cinnamon rolls. Clearly the food is a favorite.
I especially love the demonstrating craftsmen, mesmerizing onlookers as they carve wood, beat metal, pull taffy, and blow glass into delicate works of art right before your eyes.
The glass blowing truly captivates me as I watch them hold the glass over the intense heat, twisting, turning, blowing, pulling, and pinching with their large metal tongs and special tools. Then, finally dipping the glass into the cooling waters until the glass takes the final shape the artisan envisioned for it from the beginning. It is miraculous. Rocks and minerals, through fire and finesse, transformed into exquisite works of art.
This is the process I think of when picturing God’s transformation of my will, not by force but through my willful submission to the Great Artisan. God blowing God’s spirit into me, patiently turning me over in refining heat, using various practices, relationships, and experiences to form me more and more into the likeness of Christ. It is not an easy nor painless process, nor is it a one and done. Repairs are made. Shattered fragments are fused together after moments of brokenness. But in God’s capable hands, my life is continually transformed into a delicate work of art that brings glory to the Artisan alone.
