Written by John, a guest writer

Over the past year, I have had a job very similar to a clergyman. In this role, I have been put in the position of aiding and comforting many people dealing with depression, anxiety, grieving, and other emotional issues. The first thing I say is that I am not here to fix you, there is nothing to fix; I am here to help you learn how to live with the new-you.

Much like a lump of clay on the potter’s wheel, it’s the stretching, squeezing, bending and scratching that shape us. Every hard day, every loved one lost, every social and emotional issue we face changes us and that change cannot be undone.

Things bend us and scratch us and stretch us and squeeze us, but the finished product is so much more beautiful than that lump of clay we started out as. We can never go back to that original, innocent lump of clay. All we can do is learn to live with it, learn to love the lumps and bumps, the scrapes and scratches. In the end, we are more beautiful than we could ever be without them.