Russell A. Cardwell Online

If God is the potter and we the clay, and he is continually kneading us, reshaping us into the form he needs us to take, it follows that the process can only succeed as long as we remain malleable, flexible, soft. The moment we harden into some fixed shape, God’s efforts to shape us will fail. We will simply shatter.

That doesn’t mean we cannot be repaired once broken. But it does mean that God will have to soften us up first.

And the softening process is very unpleasant indeed. . . .

• God Abhors a Vacuum