One of the featured artists was Jeff Price, a glass blower from my hometown of Santa Ana, California. Today he was making an ornament and he explained that the reheating chamber (a very hot furnace) was called the glory hole. As he worked on the piece he said that when the glass gets too cold to work with he has to take it back to the glory hole.
That got me to thinking. How often does my faith grow cold? Are the trials and heartache due to God putting me in His glory hole so He can work with me?
Jeff used a long pole to get the glass out of the furnace and to put it in the glory hole. He had to keep his distance because of the heat. But then he sat at his work bench with the glass right next to him as he shaped it with the jack.
When I am in the midst of a trial I feel as if God is distant. And when I realize he is working on me I am grateful that He'd care to put the effort into the hot mess that I am. I am grateful so I feel Him near. He is shaping me. I may have to go back and forth to the glory hole during the process but He IS Shaping Me.
When Jeff had finished shaping his piece and attached extra glass that he shaped into a hanger so the ornament could be put on display he put it in the annealing oven. This is an oven that allows the glass to be cooled slowly so it won't break.
It takes me time after a trial to really realize what God has done. I wonder about it all through the process and when the worst of it (the reheating) is over I am not always sure what has just happened. He brought me through and was with me during the process but for what purpose. Sometimes my heart is in the annealing oven longer than other times.
Oh, and I didn't even mention the torch Jeff used which is Hotter than the glory hole. It is used to smooth the glass and bring out the color. All in all, Jeff put in alot of time in a hot studio to make one little ornament.
God is just as willing to patiently and skillfully work on little ol' me. He knows which oven to use and how much time is needed being reheated. He always picks up the right tool to shape me. And He knows how much frit (broken pieces of glass) and which colors to use to make the one of a kind ornament that is me. Hopefully I will display His glory.
Oh, and I didn't even mention the torch Jeff used which is Hotter than the glory hole. It is used to smooth the glass and bring out the color. All in all, Jeff put in alot of time in a hot studio to make one little ornament.
God is just as willing to patiently and skillfully work on little ol' me. He knows which oven to use and how much time is needed being reheated. He always picks up the right tool to shape me. And He knows how much frit (broken pieces of glass) and which colors to use to make the one of a kind ornament that is me. Hopefully I will display His glory.
I was going to select 'cool' as my reaction but cool would be silly when your topic was so hot! haha, either way, this is a very thought provoking read!
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