The Teacup

The Teacup

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop
in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding
anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and
especially teacups. 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 teacup spoke,
"You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup.
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 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! 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, 'OK,
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 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's
doing [for 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 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.

Author Unknown
_____
Taken From "Native Dreams"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NativeDreams/