Clay in the Hands

I have all kinds of things on my desk, but one thing you would see if you came into my office is in the picture above.  Looking at it here, it does not look like much.  But for me, it carries many memories and a couple of reminders as well.

In 1988, I had the privilege of spending 6 weeks in Israel on an archaeological dig.  We were the first group to dig at Banias, which was Caesarea Philippi in the New Testament.  Since we were the group to “open” the dig, there was prep work necessary before we began our work.  I found this preparatory work interesting and contrary to what I would think would be normal activity for historians.  The government brought in a huge Caterpillar front end loader to scrape off, literally 2000 years of history, in order to get down to the first century.

Once they had reached what they estimated to be the approximate layer of first century civilization, we began our work of tediously digging to find artifacts and clues about what went on there.

But in my mind, I was puzzled by the fact that so much was pushed off and piled up as insignificant.  We were allowed to sift through the piles of “unimportant” stuff during our breaks and keep what we found.  This piece of pottery that sits on my desk is a base of a big pot that dates to the Mamluk period (1200’s to 1500’s).  It reminds me of my time in Israel and the experience of a lifetime with which God blessed me.

It also reminds me of something else.  While I understand that the goal of our dig was to explore the relevance of the site in the first century, this pottery reminds me that I should never see anyone or any relationship as insignificant.  While our purposes in Israel were not concerned with the Mamluk period, this pot sherd represents a person living during that time who spent several hours crafting this piece of pottery.  It reminds me of a person and a time much different from me and the time in which I live, and I choose not to take that for granted.  It serves to remind me that I must value the people and relationships in my life – all of them.

While this pot sherd was not significant to the work we were doing, it is significant to me.

Is there anyone you take for granted?  Take a minute today to let them know you care!