Post by Rhonda on Jan 24, 2006 5:56:29 GMT -5
The Story of 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 must 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.
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 must 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.