Beautiful glass decanter
Put carefully on a shelf
Brought out to serve company
Precious - and fragile.

Simple pottery dish
Used everyday
Part of the rough and tumble of life
Ordinary - and sturdy.

But if the decanter shatters
I can pick up the pieces
Take them to a craftsman
They can be melted, reformed.

If the pottery bowl shatters
I can pick up the pieces
But there's little I can do
Except throw them away.

Glass is melted and formed by fire
But it keeps its nature
Clay is changed by fire to pottery
Becomes something new.

What in us is glass
Reformable when shattered?
What in us is pottery
That can only be swept away?

What do we keep hidden, precious
Shown only to a select few?
And what do we treat carelessly
As if it will always be there?

What in us is glass - and what is pottery?
What is precious and what is common?
Do we know ourselves well enough
To know what to protect and what to use?

Do we know what parts of us God wants to use?
To reach out to others and to heal the world?
Are we willing to risk shattering - can we trust
Our Potter and Glass Blower to use us wisely?