Spiritual insight from a bowl!

I love how I can be making a bowl and at the same time learn something very deep spiritually.  One time in particular, I was making some large bowls out of my reclaimed clay.  I was making large bowls so that I could use up the clay faster.  I hate reclaimed clay, it is so much harder to work with but being a new potter I have a lot of it, it comes from the trimmed off pieces, stuff that doesn't turn out, etc.  Continuing with my story, I was making a large bowl and I could not get the clay centered.  I didn't want to give up, I just wanted to use the clay and be done with it.  So even though I couldn't center the clay I went ahead and made the bowl.  When it came time to raise the walls it was wobbly, so I slowed the speed way down and gradually brought the walls up.  I really didn't think that the bowl would be very pretty but when I trimmed it up I carved a design in it and was quite pleased.  To my surprises when I flipped the bowl over their was a speck of wood stuck in the side of it, no wonder I couldn't get it centered.  Let me back up a little.  I threw the bowl Monday night, Tuesday morning I went to ladies prayer at my church and we prayed about seeing people the way that God sees them, not judging the speck in them but overlooking that and just loving them.   When I flipped the bowl over and saw the speck of I immediately picked it out (oh how I wish I had left it, at the time I did not get the spiritual connection at all).  That night I was visiting with my pastor and he mentioned how someone can do one thing wrong and that's what people remember, they could of had years of good but people see that one bad thing and can't see beyond that.  So I shared with him that we had been praying about that in the morning, (pretty cool).  Still not getting the spiritual connection, I randomly told him about my bowl.  He immediately said, "I think there is a lesson in that", and I said, "NO I like my clay to be perfect, I don't like using reclaimed clay, I like fresh clay straight from the bag"!  I do a lot of thinking while driving and on the way home after saying that I started to put the pieces together, wow!
God delights in using reclaimed clay, that's all he uses, he takes our messed up lives and gently works us together and then starts to form a vessel for His purposes.  He is not concerned about our specks, He just slows the speed down and gently forms us.  I wish I hadn't picked out the speck because it would of just burned up in the fire.  I like people to be perfect and when they are not I quickly without even thinking about it, pick out their speck, in the process hurting them.
The scripture I have been referring to is Matthew 7:3, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
I need to be more gentle with people because none of us, are without specks or logs.  However it wasn't long after this revelation, that I tried picking out a speck, in someone, Again.  The good thing is I recognized it and hopefully in time, I  will not even see the specks!  Also I am learning to love reclaimed clay, okay maybe love is too strong of a word but like.  When you use reclaimed clay you are literally taking waste and making something useful and often beautiful.  When I use new clay I expect it to turn out, and when it doesn't I am very disappointed.  I get much more delight in a piece when it turns out if it was made from waste.  God picks us up out of the miry clay and sets our feet on a rock, also scripture.  We are the reclaimed clay, I was a mess without Jesus!  I love how he is molding me and shaping me.  I have even gone in the fire a few times and had some specks burned out but that is another story a very painful story, I am sure we could all insert some hard times in here.  Some times I even need to fire a piece of pottery up to 4 times I have heard of people firing 8 times.  The good thing is, we don't need to change other people, God does that and He is so gentle and patient.  We just need to encourage each other in this journey called life, look for the good, see the work in progress.   Each life is precious, which reminds me of a friend of mine.  I had some pottery that was my beginning  pieces and they were, ugly and heavy and destined for the dump.  My friend came over and rescued many pieces because she couldn't stand for them to be thrown away.  The interesting thing is she is a rescuer of people as well, she sees the best in everyone and hopes for them, believes in them, literally lays her life down for them. as does her husband; they are both such an inspiration to me.
Here is the bowl, can't even tell there was ever a speck.