On my desk sit 12 small containers of Play-Doh™ in various colors. As my college students wander into class, an unmistakable look of delight spreads across their faces when they spy the small pyramid of fun. I gather up my surprise and begin to pass them out – each student choosing their favorite. Immediately, lids are removed, fingers itching to work the stuff of childhood memories, the familiar scent creeping into the room.
We are reading “Invitation to a Journey” by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. In it he says, spiritual formation is, “A process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others.” That breaks down into four distinct parts:
1) A process
2) Of being conformed
3) To the image of Christ
4) For the sake of others
Today’s lesson is on #2 – being conformed.
I speak to them of the part they play in that conforming. They are not oil or water that takes the shape of any container into which it is poured. Each one feels the smoothness and the slight resistance of the dough as they mash, or roll out, or ball it up in their hands.
I tell them that the power to conform is not theirs, even as the dough cannot rise up and form itself into a blue horsey or purple pizza.
Merely by chance (perhaps) one student receives a can of dough that has become dry and cracked. Regardless of the way he tries to manipulate the lump, it simply crumbles.
Being conformed to the image of Christ, I tell them, is a cooperative work. The form and method is in the hands of the Father. We have no control apart from our willingness to be changed – our commitment to pliability.
I can see the light go on as their hands still. A new grasp of the hymn,
Have Thine own way, Lord
Have Thine own way.
Thou art the Potter
I am the clay
Mold me and make me
After Thy will
While I am waiting
Yielded and still
The notes ring in the room even after my voice finishes the last line.
apples of gold 