Clay and Hearts - Soft but Firm

I sometimes wonder whether the speakers at General conference ever share notes with each other. In The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life, Elder Richard J. Maynes shared a story about molding pots and Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." In the very next General Conference talk, Yielding our Hearts to God, Sister Neill F. Marriott also shared a quote about being clay in our Heavenly Father's hands:

Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter;

I am the clay.

Mould me and make me

After Thy will,

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.

In both of their talks, the speakers emphasized the need for us to be humble and to submit ourselves to the Lord. We do this by making Jesus Christ the center of our lives and being willing to change ourselves according to His and our Father's will. A willingness to change is vital. You may have clay perfectly centered on a wheel, but that won't do you any good if the clay is too hard to shape. Similarly, merely focussing our thoughts on the gospel isn't enough; we also need to be willing to change our lives according to its teachings.

In order for the gospel to enrich our lives, we need to make sure our hearts are soft enough to change. Only if our hearts are softened can we be shaped by God's wisdom into what He needs us to be. Then, when He has finished shaping us, we need to be firm and retain the new shape He has helped us take. Unlike hard clay that cannot be molded or clay that is too wet to maintain its shape, we need to be soft enough to become what God wants us to be and firm enough to stay that way.