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b'READ: JEREMIAH 18:1-6; EZEKIEL 36:26; 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18\\n\\n\\n\\nTamora\\u2019s orange eyes were wide with excitement. Today, Grandmother would teach her how to weave a sala basket, a rite of passage in her village on a planet in the Cloudina Galaxy. Tamora watched Grandmother\\u2019s wrinkled purple hands lift a bucket filled with water and colorful qasab reeds out of the wash basin. \\u201cWatch carefully now,\\u201d said Grandmother. She demonstrated how to bend the reeds and explained the ancient weaving pattern, more intricate than any Tamora had learned before. Soon Tamora was ready to begin her own basket.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cThat\\u2019s the way,\\u201d Grandmother said after Tamora had completed several rows. Tamora beamed and then returned to weaving, stopping only now and then to ask Grandmother for help. After a while, Tamora said, \\u201cThis reed is not bending well.\\u201d She was holding the last one from the pile Grandmother had made when they began.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cLet me see.\\u201d Grandmother inspected the blue reed. \\u201cThis reed is too dry. You need to put it back in the water and get a different one. It\\u2019s important to keep your reeds wet.\\u201d After switching reeds, Tamora began weaving easily again. Grandmother smiled and leaned back. \\u201cWhen I weave with qasab reeds, I\\u2019m often reminded of what the Maker does for us.\\u201d Tamora raised her eyebrows as Grandmother took a reed from the basin. With a twinkle in her eye, she continued, \\u201cWe can all be like that dry, unbendable reed, stubbornly insisting on our own way instead of trusting our Maker to guide and shape us. But just like a basket weaver wets unbendable reeds to work with them, the Maker\\u2019s Spirit softens our hearts in the waters of His love and sacrifice for us, making us humble and pliable. Then, He can form us into people who love well.\\u201d\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cThe Maker sounds like a potter,\\u201d said Tamora. \\u201cMy friend Gamal was telling me that dry, hard clay can be made soft and moldable again by soaking it in water. Then the potter can shape it into something beautiful and purposeful.\\u201d\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cIndeed,\\u201d said Grandmother. \\u201cEvery time you look at your basket, you can remember the Maker\\u2019s presence and love in your life. Because you and I belong to Him, let us be like damp reeds or soft clay, trusting Him to shape us.\\u201d \\u2022 A. W. Smith\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2022 If you know Jesus, how have you seen Him change and mold you? In what ways do you love God and other people more than when you began your journey with God? (Matthew 22:36-40)\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u2026O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NLT)'