The Teacup

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques, pottery, and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We have 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. 'Stop! I am 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 me 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 in the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and  I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening, nodding his head and 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 a 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 am 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 hurts and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, 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 would have never hardened; you wouldn't have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in the  second oven, you wouldn't have survived for very long because the hardness would have not held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began you.'"

-Author Unknown

Do you have times where you feel like the little teacup? There are days when I feel like screaming and crying because what God let us go through is so hard and difficult to bear. Sadly sometimes I am focused on the circumstances: the fumes, the hot oven, the spinning wheel and obviously I cannot see the finish product yet, I cannot see what God is going to make out of my life. But I have to remember that God knows already what He wants to make of me and all the things I go through are to make me the finished product He has in mind.

Today as I was reading again this illustration I was encouraged in knowing that God has a perfect plan and I need to remember always that He is not done yet, this can hurt only for a bit but then we will be a wonderful masterpiece.