~~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? Weve never seen a cup quite so beautiful. As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, You dont 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, Dont do that. I dont 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 made 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, Not yet. When I thought I couldnt 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, I cried. He only shook his head and said, Not yet. Then suddenly he puts 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, Whats 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, Thats not me. That couldnt be me. Its beautiful. Im beautiful! Quietly he spoke: I want you to remember. I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, youd 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 hadnt put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadnt done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any colour in your life. If I hadnt put you back in that second oven, you wouldnt 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 Hes 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 fulfil 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 favourite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.~~
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 09:36:27 +0000