Make Me one of those…

I knew it was going to be challenging. Any time you try to do anything new it’s challenging. I guess I didn’t really know how challenging it would be. You know the moment when you are about to do something and realize that you have no idea what you are doing? I remember that feeling the first time I walked into a classroom as a student teacher. I had taken four years worth of classes to become a teacher and when I walked in that room for the first time...no idea what I was doing. There’s so much more to being a good teacher than knowing the content. In fact, that really is just a small piece. 

Well my first experience with pottery was no different. My Uncle Robert dropped that cylinder down in front of me and said, “Make me five of those.” Like no coaching. No helpful hints. No steps one through five. I just looked at him as if to say, “Seriously?” The next hour would consist of me producing absolutely nothing that resembled anything similar to the cylinder in front of me. But it was fun. And I was intrigued. In fact, it only made me want to learn more and do more. Over time I would gradually get better. 

And so it is with most things in life. It takes stepping out of our comfort zone for us to grow. I could only learn to be a teacher by teaching...not by sitting in a class talking about teaching. I could only learn to throw a cylinder on a wheel by throwing it, not by listening to someone who has done it a million times talk about it. I can only learn to follow Jesus by getting out of my ordinary, routine, “everyone is just like me” world of comfort and doing the things that He did, going the places that He would go, and speaking the things that He would speak. Getting out of my comfort zone. 

And to be honest, the times that I have experienced God the most and come to know Him best...all those times...have been way out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t a class I was in, a sermon I heard, or a message I prepared. It was allowing Him to speak to me through His word, engaging in life the way that He would, and experiencing Him through the eyes of other people and their situations. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much He has pushed me out of my comfort zone. Very similar to the way my uncle did. So as I reflect on how my Father has taught me grace, mercy, kindness, acceptance, patience...to love those who are different than me...those who have struggles I don’t have...those who need someone in whatever capacity...I think about how He did it. And usually, it was by just putting it in front of me and saying, “Make me one of those.”