Teacup

The Teacup

A couple vacationing in Europe went strolling down a
little street and saw a quaint little gift shop with a beautiful teacup
in the window. The lady collected teacups and she wanted this one for
her collection, so she went inside to pick up the teacup, and as the
story goes the teacup spoke and said-

" i want you to know that i have not always looked like this. It took
the process of pain to bring me to this point. You see, there was a time
when i was just clay and the Master came and he pounded me and he
squeezed me and he kneaded me and i screamed " Stop That". But he just
smiled and said, "Not yet".

Then he took me and put me on the shelf and i went round and round and
round....and while i was spinning and getting dizzier and dizzier i
screamed again and i said, " Please get me off this thing...please get me
off!!!" And the Master was looking at me and he was smiling as he said,
" Not yet."

Then he took me and walked toward the oven and shut the door and turned
up the heat and i could see him through the window of
the oven and it was getting hotter and hotter and i thought, " He's
going to burn me to death". And i started pounding on the inside of the
oven and i said, "Master, let me out, let me out, let me out", and i
could see that he was smiling as he said, "not yet".

Then he opened the door and i was fresh and free and he took me out of
the oven and he put me on the table and then he got
some paint and a paintbrush. He started dabbing me and making swirls
all over me and i started to gag and i said: " Master, stop it...stop
it....stop it please...you're making me gag". He just smiled and
said "not yet".

Then very gently he picked me up again and he started
walking toward the oven and i said "Master, NO! Not again, pleeeeaseee"

He opened the oven door and he slipped me inside and
he shut the door and this time he turned the heat up twice as hot as
before and i thought, " He's going to kill me"' and i looked
through the window of the oven and i started to pound saying, "Master...Master, let
me out....please let me out....let me out". i could see he was smiling
but i also noticed a tear trickle down his cheek as i watched him nouth
the words, "Not yet!"

Just as i thought i was about to die, the door opened and he reached in
ever so gently and took me out, fresh and free and he went and placed
me on a high shelf and he said: "There, I have created
what I intended. Would you like to see yourself?"

I said, "Yes". He handed me a mirror and i looked and
i looked again and i said, "That's not me, i'm just a lump of clay.

He said, "Yes, that IS you, but it took the process of pain to bring
you to this place. you see, had I not worked with you whe you were clay,
then you would have dried up. If I had not subjected you to the stress
of the wheel you would have crumbled. If I had not put you into the
heat of the oven you would have cracked. If I had not
painted you there would; be no color in your life. But it was the second
oven that gave you the strength to endure. Now you are everything I
inteneded for you to be-from the beginning."

And i, the teacup, heard myself saying something i never thought i
would hear myself saying, " Master forgive me, i did not trust in you, i
thought you were going to harm me, i did not know you had a glorious
future and a hope for me. i was too shortsighted, but
i want to thank you. i want to thank you for the suffering. i want to thank
you for the process of pain. Here i am! i give you myself-fill me,
pour from me, use me as you see fit. i really want to be a vessel that
brings you glory within my life."