Wheaton College - Tower Yearbook (Wheaton, IL)

Page 16 text:

G od Our Craftsman When God is the Potter of our lives His workings grow even more in- dividual. He knows the material from which He formed each of us, and the functions in which we fit best. Through our learning at Wheaton and elsewhere He begins to shape us to that end. Whether the end is a career, a position, or an area of influence, rest assured of its importance. In Creation and Fall, a lecture on Genesis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about molding. Yahweh shapes man with his own hands. This ex- presses two things. First, the bodily nearness of the Creator to the creature, that it is really he who makes me-man-with his own handsq his concern, his thought for me, his nearness to me. And secondly there is his authority, the absolute superiority in which he shapes and creates me and in which I worship him. Oddly enough, clay may have a will of its own. When pliant, we flow under the Potter's hands, and God has easy molding with us. If we in- sist on becoming a butter dish rather than a sugar bowl, He must take us off the wheel and knead some more. God holds the owner's manual in His hand as he watches us, and us- ing our common sense we must sub- mit to His will. The usefulness to Him makes it all worthwhile.

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'X-K-...Hu srh God Our Cultivator At Wheaton certain kinds of experience include us all. We take in the same classes, the same special events, and the same chapel messages. But in these common denominators we still say sometimes, That was aimed right at me. It filled my needs. The Bible says that God is not only the Sower, but the Sustainer and the Vinedresser. He provides sun and rain, cool and heat: bread for each day's needs. He prunes our barren stalks, andpulls the weeds. Class devotions or advice from a friend can move us back on the track when we're off course. When we feel unloved, a card in CPO, a supper appointment, or a little favor from a roommate will change our mood. God provides for our every need. God also plans time for the ripening and fruition of his plants. In Psalm 1, the righteous tree brings forth fruit in its ' season. Modern Christians often get impatient with their maturity, perhaps because their instant culture offers them quick-and-easy meals and clothes, and teach-yourself-in-two weeks organ lessons and foreign languages. But our wise Farmer bides His time, knowing that as He waits, those green apples will turn red. How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom show'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near, And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That come more timely-happy spirits endu'th. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be in the strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven, All is, ifl have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye. -John Milton

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Batter my heart, three personed Godg for You As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mendg That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. from Sonnet 14 John Donne sb