You are the Potter; we are the clay

“A rough and unshaped log has no idea that it can be made into a statue that will be considered a masterpiece, but the carver sees what can be done with it.  So many do not understand that God can mold them into saints, until they put themselves into the hands of that almighty Artisan.”       St. Ignatius Loyola                    

God has created us in His image. Through His prophets and His Son, He has called us and shown us the way He wants to shape us.  Paul puts it so well in his letter to the Galatians:  "the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."  

May we all be willing to let this transformation flow into us; to let His refining fire remove the dross from us as we seek to live humbly, justly, and faithfully.

Elephant Rock, Three Sisters Beach, NZ

Elephant Rock, Three Sisters Beach, NZ

Three Sisters Beach, NZ--the best beach ever!!

Late yesterday afternoon, Meg and I visited the best beach EVER I have seen. Three Sisters Beach, on the Taranaki west coast of North Island, NZ, lies an hour's drive north of New Plymouth. It is accessible only at low tide.  To get there, you walk/wade down the Tongaparutu river.  The earlier you leave ahead of low tide, the deeper the water, as you can see by the pictures of Meg.

The "sisters" are sea stacks, vertical columns of limestone cliffs, capped by harder rock, that the waves' forces have eroded away from the headland. Frequently they are arches whose center has collapsed. The shapes are both whimsical and dramatic, and provide nesting areas for seabirds. They glow, along with the cliffs, in the early evening sun.

And, there is a most excellent motel about fifteen minutes north of here, the Mokau Motel, one the best you will find anywhere. It overlooks the Mokau River and the ocean, and Mt Taranaki.  The facilities are equally suberb!