The Tea Cup

>There was a couple who went to England to shop in a beautiful antique store
>
>They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea cups.
>On a trip to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary they found an
>exceptional cup.
>They asked, "May we see that cup?
>We've never seen a tea cup quite so beautiful."
>
>
>As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea cup spoke,
>"You don't understand." the cup 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 the potter 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!!' 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 patted,
>
>but had I 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 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 think on this story and then...
>
>Have a little talk with the Potter!