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A new year and a new YOU! I am sure you have either heard that or said it many times before. Is it possible, ABSOLUTELY? Yet, it requires effort, or the repetitive cycle of a course that is not well run becomes the modality measured at the end of a year. Intentionality does not happen, and change is never automatic. Well, for a baby with a diaper, it may be, and a welcomed one at that, but for we who are more seasoned in life, change becomes a bad word that is lauded and celebrated when introduced to others and lashed out at and criticized when it comes to our individualized place and space of time. As we navigate this 2024 season, should the Lord tarry, we must learn to adapt and change with intentionality. If we are to L.O.V.E. inside and out, then we will be faced with moments of change as the Lord desired to mold the clay that we are in His hands. When was the last time you considered a potter's wheel? The base plate spinning at 200-300 RPM or rotations per minute. WOW! That is fast enough to make anyone’s head spin. Consider the wheel, consider the potter, patient, engaged in the process, carefully examining the clay as it spins at such a speed. The well-trained eye of the potter sees the imperfections coming to the surface. Their hand dipped in the cool water as their hand gently mars the clay. They must reach in and remove the inconsistencies and imperfections. The potter knows that if the clay goes dry, it cannot be formed, only fashioned into a seemingly imperfect oddity of sorts. Imagine the clay as a living and breathing organism. Such speed would produce dizziness, a disconnect, and distraction that the clay could not possibly focus on anything other than spinning and marring. If nerves were in the clay and a mouth to relay, the screams would be heard across the proverbial way. The clay, well, it is you, and it is me. The Potter is our Lord meticulously and faithfully tending to the vessel he sees in the clay. Remember this: as this article closes, a Potter always treats the clay from the lens that sees the finished product. The clay cannot fathom the final piece; all it can do is be still and know that the Potter has a plan, controls the wheel, has the water to soothe the spinning clay and that the potter’s hands are the most engaged to the clay when the shape and purpose are unknown to everyone else except the potter. We love you all! We are all clay…