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
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Keep smiling!
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