A CLAY TALE

Hey you, perseverance looks good on you but success will look even better.

CLAY.
Trampled and trodden upon
Scorned with reckless abandon
Shapeless and devoid of form
Poked and prodded for all its worth
Dizzy from the spinning of the wheel
Exhausted from the heat of the klin
Tickled with every brush stroke
Placed upon the softest of velvets
The epitome of grass to grace
He now beams
A beauty to behold.

I recently had a conversation with a friend the other day; natures very own clay (don’t ask questions) and he asked me to pass this message across.

Me: I’m genuinely sick and tired

Clay: what’s going on?

Me: They said I should stop overthinking things and just start , told me to have a set goal and don’t give up until I get there but nobody told me it was going to be like this. Sometimes it feels like I’m stuck in limbo. Nothing seems to be working out, I’m just about ready to throw in the towel because there seems to be no difference.

Clay: you mean you’re in pain?

Me: I guess that’s what you old folks call it

Clay: Well if it’s any help, I can relate

Me: *scoffs* what would you know about pain?

Clay: It was a dark and stormy night

Me: please go straight to the point

Clay: *mumbles* fun sponge. I’ll share a few tips with you, just because I’m
generous.

Perseverance; you see before I became the beauty that you know and admire today I had to endure. I had to undergo and withstand several degrees of heat to get to where I am today. I learnt early that just as the pencil has to undergo a painful sharpening from to time to make it better, I too had to go through fire (quite literally) to become the best I can be but I must say that the end result is something I’m proud of.

Me:
So how did you do it?
I mean you went through hot flames of fire, how did you survive it?

Objective; Well it’s important to have a goal. I knew where I wanted to be and knew exactly what it’ll take to get there. It wasn’t enough to know though, I had to harness the latent power behind that knowledge. I fixed my gaze on what lay ahead of me with unwavering focus.

Me:
So it was ‘’ I want it, I got it’’ with you.
Weren’t there times when you grew tired?
Didn’t you ever want to just throw in the towel?

Tenacity; More times than not, I thought I was just about done with this. I was tired but then I realized that if I was ever going to put that stubbornness of mine to good use well this was the time. I was stubbornly unyielding, pushing through regardless because I wanted my rainbow after the storm and pot of gold after.

Me:
Sounds like you had everything under control then, like you had it all figured out.
How does it feel to be God’s favorite?

Tweaked: Prior to what you think or what this sounds like, I didn’t have it figured out and honestly I still don’t. There were twists and turns along the road, a lot that I didn’t for see but I learnt to work with what I had and kept learning along the way. Life will throw things at you and stuff you didn’t imagine will happen will unveil right before you so yeah, it’s never a straight journey. Life will tweak things just for its pleasure and you’ll just have to work with it.

Me:
This genuinely sounds like a lot of stress
Can’t I just skip this whole phase?

Essence: I realized that this period is necessary. It’s something I have to go through and I simply can’t bypass it. No growth can occur without sacrifice and there’s no sacrifice that doesn’t bring about some sort of pain with it.

Me:
Oh well
Everything becomes perfect after this right?

Realism: Be realistic, everything is not just going to work smoothly so don’t set yourself up for disappointment by expecting such. Remember always that you may stumble but that doesn’t mean you’ll fall and if for any reason, you eventually fall, pick yourself back up, carry with you the lessons from that fall and keep moving.

Me:
Interesting
So life is some sort of zig zag motion
O wise one, is there anything else you’d like to share?

Yielding: well, you’re going to have to be malleable. While it is equally important to be tenacious, you’ll have to succumb to change once in a while. You must constantly learn and unlearn stuff, that’s the only way you’ll move forward. Remember that you’re river and you’re constantly in motion, forget how it was meant to be, accept change and ride the wave.
There you have it, lessons from the wise clay himself (again, don’t ask). I hope you learnt a thing or two, I sure did.

Philippians 4:13 tells you and I that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
So relax, you can do it and I can do it too. You just have to keep praying and keep working, you’ll get there eventually, you just need a teeny weeny bit of patience. Remember to enjoy the journey though, record milestones and reward yourself along the way. Cut yourself some slack, you’re doing better than you think you are.

Keep this in mind;
The pencil experiences a painful sharpening from time to time but it’s only to make it better.
The potato knows what it’s like to be broken down before it is built back up, it had to be peeled and cut (I don’t imagine it feels good during the process) to get the French fries and pringles that we love to eat.
The butterfly knows what it’s like for life to rip the carpet from right under it’s feet. All it used to know was an enclosed space and then all of a sudden it’s forced to forget everything it knows and fly. To grow up and glow up.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, were all being pottered somehow which brings me to this question:

Is pain really necessary for growth or is it just over celebrated?

Endeavour to share your thoughts with me in the comment section, I’ll be looking forward to it.

Remember there’s strength in vulnerability
Have a beautiful day💓