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 show 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 and and patted me over and over, 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, I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening, 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 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 the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said 'Thant's not me; that couldn't me 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 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 not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began 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

Author Unknown

Isaiah 45:9 “Who to the one who quarrels with his Maker-An earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?” Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?”