Digging wells: A true test of perseverance

In many parts of today's world, we turn on a tap and, voila! Water.

Thanks to technology and innovation, a lot of us don't have to worry about water. Can you imagine that thousands of years ago, digging a well was the only way to access water, especially if you didn't live close to a river!

Travel with me, if you will, to 4,000 years ago and let's join a patriarch living somewhere in the middle east in a part that wasn't his home. He has a family and servants and a flock of animals that all need water. He decides to settle in an area for a while and decides to dig a well. After much work, he and his servants find cool, refreshing water! The local villages quarrel with him over that well calling it theirs and force him to move away. He moves further away, settles and digs again. Again the villagers surrounding the area quarrel with him. He moves further away and digs again... he seems to have a knack for finding water. He finds water and this time no one disputes the well with him. He decides to settle there and build his family.

Even though this story happens thousand of years ago, there are still relevant lessons for today.

1. If you need something, you will always go after it until you find it. People define 'needs' and 'wants' differently and then place them on a scale of preference. WATER is a necessity. If you make your vision as crucial as water, you will always go digging for it.
2. There will always be opposition. No one is going to hand you your dream on a silver plate. No one. Ever. Don't be surprised when tests come, when nay-sayers come along when people talk at your back. It's all part of the vision building process.
3. You need to prove to yourself that your dream is worth fighting for. Are you going to stop digging the first time or the third time or will you go on until you dig up what you need?
4. You are going to keep moving until you get there. Do Not settle in the place that is less than the vision in your heart. Be prepared to be on the move: away from negative people, away from the place that is not 'that place'
5. There is room for you. Yes! I said it, and you should say it to yourself, "There is room for me".

Becoming clay

We all know what clay is... the soft mushy substance that is great for pottery and modelling.
Clay originates from natural rock, weathered over time until it becomes finely grained.
"Clay" caught my attention as i was learning about trust and i wanted to share that with you.
You see, the special property that makes clay very desirable to work with is its malleability. This makes it flexible, stretchable, able to be bent and formed without breaking.

A special verse in the bible tells us that God is our Father. We are the clay and He is the Potter. We all are formed by His hand. ( Isaiah 64:8)
Now, it's not that difficult to imagine GOD as the potter. He is in control of things, he directs our paths and our lives. I'd like to zone in on the other part that we don't always focus on: we are the clay. I am the clay.
This means that it is our responsibility to retain our ability to be malleable.
We have to allow the potter's hand to bend and stretch us as He pleases for His own intentions.
If you're like me, you're the kind of lump of clay that often jumps off the wheel and wants to run off because i don't particularly enjoy whats going on in the present.
The potter is working right now, in the present, shaping us into His masterpiece and if we trust his loving hands enough to stay on the wheel, we'll be pleasantly surprised when the masterpiece
is finished.