Many years had passed since Clayton and Amissa, the little clay people, had chose to venture into the Land of the Cliffs. Their lives were more difficult now as they wandered around the cliffs, but they always remembered who they could go to in times of trouble. The Potter still cared for his creations and was very pleased when they would choose to come back to him to be refined. However, it seemed that as the years passed the Claytons, who were the offspring of Clayton and Amissia would wander further away into the wilderness.
The wilderness began at the bottom of the cliffs. Some of the valleys were so low that when looking up one could just barely see the tops of the cliffs. The wilderness was a wasteland and practically barren of any good thing. But, many of the Claytons believed that it was safer to live there. They believed that if they didn’t live in the Land of Clayton, then they wouldn’t be at risk for falling over a cliff and becoming broken. Many of them did not remember what the potter had told Clayton and Amissa about the fate of their offspring.
The Potter had informed that all the Claytons would be broken due to the original fall and disobedience of Clayton and Amissa. Many of the Claytons had become adapted to their original brokenness and believed they didn’t need to be refined, unless they were to fall over a cliff and that is why they continued to live for years to wander in the wilderness.
In one of the valleys was a pool of water were one of the Claytons had been pulled out of when he was a baby. His name was Marden, which refers to the valley with the pool. Marden grew up thinking he was different than the rest of the Claytons. Marden had a yearning to get out of the wilderness and to go back to the top of the cliffs. One day he sat out on a journey to the top of a cliff. All of the Claytons told Marden that he was crazy to attempt something like that. They told him the higher he got the more likely for him to fall and be broken.
Each step that Marden cautiously took he could remember the stories of the Potter that many of the Claytons had seemed to forget about. Marden thought that it was ironic that the higher he climbed and looked down upon the Claytons the more he could see their brokenness. After a long and exhausting climb Marden finally made it to the top of one of the cliffs and was frightened at what he saw.
He seen what looked to be a Refiner’s fire, but it appeared out of nowhere. Marden then heard the voice of the Potter. The Potter told Marden that he was the one who had created their ancestors, Clayton and Amissa, and that he had seen the misery of the Claytons in the wilderness. The Potter explained how the Claytons were never intended to live in the wilderness. After the fall of Clayton and Amissa the Potter had given them the land of the cliffs to be their homeland.
The Potter had instruction on how to live in the land of the cliffs and how to maneuver around them, but before they were given the Claytons headed for the wilderness. The Potter told Marden that he would be the one to go back to the Claytons and lead them back to the land of Clayton. But, Marden humbly asked the Potter, “Who am I to bring the Claytons out of the wilderness?”
The Potter assured Marden that he would be with him and that as the Claytons were on their way back the Refiner’s fire would be a guide for them. Marden had the faith and hope that this was so, but he still wondered if the Claytons would believe him. The Potter formed two clay tablets with his own hand and wrote ten instructions upon them to be a sign of hope for Marden to take back down to the Claytons…. To Be Continued.
Originally written: 3-29-00 (My 28th birthday 🙂
~TRS
Rays of Hope 