This summer I had the privilege of taking Ceramics II at the Haliburton School of Art and Design. What a joy it was to spend a week with clay on the wheel, learning, experimenting, and creating. One of the very first lessons we were reminded of is that the most important step in throwing any pot is centering.

If the clay isn’t centered on the wheel, the entire pot will be off. It may wobble, misshape, or simply not rise to its full potential. No matter how skilled you are, if you skip centering, the vessel will never become what it was meant to be.

As I worked at the wheel, I couldn’t help but think—how true that is for our lives as well. If we are not centered, we too become pulled off balance, stretched thin, or unable to grow into all that God intends.

For me, centering means returning daily to God—the One who grounds me. It means prayer before rushing into the day, opening Scripture before opening my inbox, and remembering that my worth doesn’t come from productivity but from being a beloved child of God. When I take time to be centered in God, my life is steadier, my perspective clearer, and my spirit more at peace.

Just as a potter presses firmly, guiding the clay into alignment with the wheel, God lovingly shapes and steadies us when we turn back to that center. And in God’s care, we become vessels for goodness and grace.

Maybe that’s the invitation for us all today: pause, breathe, and find your center in God. The rest of the day will take its shape from there.

“Yet you, Lord, are our Parent. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” — Isaiah 64:8