A church was having a...
Illustration
A church was having a youth retreat. The theme for the weekend was how teenagers get along with their parents. For an activity one night, the leaders brought in a big tub of clay and asked each of the students to take a piece and shape it into a symbol that represented the relationship they had with their parents. When the teenagers finished, there was a wide variety of shapes that had been made. One had made a heart to show that she loved her parents. Another had formed a flower out of the clay to symbolize how her relationship with her parents was growing. Another student made what looked like a casket, saying that her relationship with her parents was dead. And a young fellow had fashioned a garbage can and commented that his relationship with his parents was in the trash. When they had finished the activity, the leaders asked everyone to put the clay back into the tub. When they did that, they noticed a label on the container that informed them that the clay was reusable after drying. So one of the leaders commented: "Isn't that a great thing about clay? If we don't like what's been made, it can always be reworked and made better. Even if we think the situations that we're in are trashed or dead, in God's hands there's always the possibility for something new and better."
-- Bowen
-- Bowen
