The Teacup

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Posted by: " Lucille Baker " borgor lucille_baker

Tue May 27, 2008 6:54 pm (PDT)

 

There was a couple who used to go England to shop in a beautiful

antique store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding

anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and 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, " 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 quietly

said, 'Not yet.' He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of

shape to suit himself and then... 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, '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 back to the beginning,' 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 that 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 is doing with each

of us. He is the Potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make

us, and expose us to just enough pressures - of just the right kinds -

so 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 nicest tea cup, sit down, and think of this

story. Then have a talk with the Potter.

 

O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we

are all the work of your hand.