There was a couple who used to go to shop in the beautiful stores.
They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. One day in
this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see
that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to
them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There
was a time when I was red and I was clay." My master took me and rolled
me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he
only smiled, "Not yet."
"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly
I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!" I
screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet."
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he
wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him
through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, "Not
yet."
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool.
"There, that's better," I said. And he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Stop it, stop it!" I
cried. He only nodded, "Not yet."
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one.
This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded.
I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening
nodding his head saying, "Not yet."
Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready
to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the
shelf. One 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."
"I want you to remember," then, he said, "I know it hurts to be rolled
and patted, but if I had 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 knew it hurt and 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.
And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive
for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a
finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with
you."
God knows what He's doing (for all of us).He is the Potter, and we are
His clay.
He will mold us and make us, So that we may be made into a flawless
piece of work To fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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