Sunday, April 02, 2006
The Tea cup
There was a couple who used to go to England and 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 rooled
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 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!"
I cried. He only shook his head and said, "Not yet."
Then suddenly he put me back into 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 was 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 that second over, 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 the 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 presssures 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 too difficult, 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.
"Man's way leads to a hopeless end; God's way leads to an endless hope..."
posted by SALT @ 2:29 am
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