I'm a little teacup

[Guest Astrosmurf]

Hey,

someone just sent me this in an email and thought it was worth sharing. True story, apparently. I now aspire to be the most beautiful little teacup ever, even if I come out chipped!

> Have a cup of tea and think on this.....................

>

> I'm a Little Tea Cup

>

> Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again

without thinking of this.

>

> There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique

store 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, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't

understand. I have not always been a teacup. 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 made to suit

himself and 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, I

cried." He only shook his head and said, "Not yet."

>

> Then suddenly he puts 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. 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."

>

> The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He

is the potter, and we are His clay. (Isaiah 64:8) 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.

>

> 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.

>

> God Bless You!

[Guest Angelgrlsue]

Thank you Astro, that is a beautiful story and it does make sense, we really are the clay and God is our potter.

Susan

[Guest Karen K]

Astro,

Praise be! This truly is the anecdote of our life. Thank you and thank God.

Laura Jane