The Word of the Day is instrument, so, of course, I searched my draft folder. The only thing with that word was this quote which I had copied into a post back in 2015 and never wrote any more.
The Holy Spirit is not a gift for us to use as we like, but a power using us at his good pleasure. Nevertheless our freewill is his instrument, and he does not force it… His action is like the rising waters of the tide, ready to fill every cranny that opens in the reef it engulfs, yet forcing no openings that are not offered.
~~ Austin Farrer, Saving Belief
It is a theme I have been thinking about for years — the way we think that we are the potters and He is the clay, the way we try to manipulate God. I know people who have totally turned their backs on religion because of the way some religious folk use God as a cudgel.
“God in a box” — that’s what I think people do. He’s much safer that way. We control him. Here are two verses of a too-long poem I wrote that also sits unfinished.
I fold up god to fit the box
Then put the lid on tightly
It’s so much safer – him in there –
I go to see him nightly
I say hello, complain a bit
Ask for a thing or two
Put the lid back on the box
Before heading to the loo
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
I love that poem .. especially the last line 💜💜💜
Oh Sally, that is exactly the fallacy that too many ascribe to – God in a box…. Seems we are in the box and like the toy – pop out at intervals to see God! I worked with a woman who had rejected God because her father died. Her prayers weren’t answered and she placed blame on the church and on God. It led to a sad life…