The
Teacup
There
was a couple who used to go to England to shop in a beautiful
antique store. This
trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They
both liked antiques and pottery, especially tea-cups.
Spotting
an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that?
We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."
As
the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke to the
couple.
"You
don't understand." It said, "I have not always been
a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red
clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me
over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that. I don't
like it! Let me alone!", but he only smiled,
and gently said; "Not yet
Then.
WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly
I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm
getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!", I screamed. But
the master only nodded and said quietly "Not
yet."
He
spun, poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit
himself and then......he put me in the oven.
I
never felt such heat! I yelled and knocked and
pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!"
I
could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as
he shook his head from side to side and again said, "Not
yet".
When
I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened.
He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began
to cool. Oh, that felt so good.
Ah,
this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled he picked
me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were
horrible. I thought I would gag. Oh, please; "Stop it,
Stop it!!" I cried. He only shook his head and said
"Not yet".
Then
suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not
like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I
would suffocate! I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I
cried. I was convinced I would never make it.
I was ready to give up.
Just
then the door opened and he took me out and again placed
me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited------- and waited,
wondering what's he going to do to me next? An hour later
he handed me a mirror and said "Look at yourself."
And I did.
I
said, "That's not me, that couldn't be me. It's
beautiful! I'm beautiful."
Quietly
he spoke "I want you to remember", then he said,
"I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but
had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made
you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped,
you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and
disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you
would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed
and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never
would have hardened.
You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put
you back in the second oven, you wouldn't have survived for
long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a
finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first
began with you.
The
moral of this story is this........
God
knows what He's doing with each of us. He is the potter, and
we are His clay. He will mould us and make us, and expose us
to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may
be made into a flawless piece of work, to fulfill His good,
pleasing and perfect will.
So
when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and
pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be
spinning out of control; when you feel like you are
in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to
"stink", try this.....
......Brew
a cup of your favorite tea, in your prettiest tea cup, sit
down and think on this story and then
have a little talk with the Potter.