Julie,
This is so beautiful and it is true. Thank you for sending it.
Virgie and Hoshi
----- Original Message -----
From: "JULIE MELTON" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 10:33 PM
Subject: the Story of the Teacup
> THE STORY OF THE TEA CUP
> 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, 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, 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 said, quietly, '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 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.'"
> God knows what He's doing in 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
> have a little talk with the Potter.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> 3:33 PM
> JulieMelton
> visit me at
> www.heart-and-music.com
> or subscribe to my podcast at
> http://feed.feedburner.com/hmradio
> Keep smiling!
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