Clay Pot: Using your challenges to mould who you are

Mbuelo Ramafamba. Captured at University of Johannesburg, APB.

We all wonder every now and then, if not often, what our purpose is. And most of the times, our minds are overcome by the thoughts of how weak we may be and how what we are, doesn’t allow for what we dream. This often ends with the overly abused line, “be realistic”.

Well, I want to tell you today that what you are made of doesn’t matter now does it determine what you become. It’s how you use the forces, qualities, and weakness that make you who you are, which will ultimately enable you to conquer what you shouldn’t be able to conquer in your natural form.

Soil is a great element of the universe and is undeniably the source of life. But we all know that soil is very vulnerable to water. Water will always soften or at times, even wash away soil. So technically water is a challenge to soil. You have all witness how water causes landslides and all other things. Most of us go through life like soil. We are easily washed away by our challenges and we find life moving too fast for us. Sometimes the water just dampens you up and you feel very weak and without cause. But today I won’t be looking at its weaknesses. I will instead focus on how soil conquers water.

Water is a challenge yes, but what if you could use the same water to build yourself into something stronger? Well, you can. The clay pot is your answer. The clay pot starts out as soil which instead of being washed away, becomes one with its challenge and mixes up to become clay. This is the point in life where instead of running from your challenges you stay and face them. Instead of going on about how big they are, you focus on how you could overcome them. You focus on how you could dismantle the challenge slowly, one piece at a time, instead of trying to find the holy grail solution to it all. And remember, patience is not just about waiting, it’s also about how you wait. While you wait, find your strength and weakness. And also find the strength of your challenge and it’s weaknesses too. As for the soil, its strength is to get wet and suck the water in. But remember, pour your water carefully, tackling one thing at a time and soon you will be in perfect shape to tackle the rest.

You now want to mold yourself carefully and with precision and dedication to become a pot. It takes time, so you need to be patient and strong. You want to shape yourself in a way that suits you. How big, how wide, how big of an opening and if you will need handles. This is the slow process where you learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. Not only that but also prepare for next time in case they resurface again. Take your time and perfect your yourself.

After this comes the part where add the final and most important step. Baking yourself to perfection. This will determine how hard and strong you become, and how easy you succumb to water. You need the best heat for this and time also. It’s going to be a tough time. This is the point in life where you get rid of your weaknesses for that perfection. You get rid of anything and everything that normally stands in your way. You strengthen yourself. This stage will determine whether you become eternity or just a short time. After this stage, you cool down.

Now that you are done, you can get to work collecting water, from the rain, the fountain or the river. Do you see how what was weak to water has now become its containment? Same is you in life. The rain would normally wash away soil, but now the soil which is now a pot collects water. Actually, it traps water. This is what you should do to your challenges. Trap them in. You can now go to a river and collect water. But if you throw soil into a river it gets washed away. Do you see how soil used its biggest challenge and by mixing it together with other forces it conquered the water? This is you. Be like soil. Turn your challenges into your strengths.