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 be

me to this point. You see, there was a time when I was just clay

and the Master came and he pounded me and squeezed me and

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 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 as he 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, pleeeease".

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, please let me out...please let me out...let me out". I could

see that he was smiling but I also noticed a tear trickle down

his cheek as I watched him mouth 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 your 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 you when you were

clay, then you would have dried up. If I had not subjected you to

the stress of the wheel 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 intended you to be - from the beginning."

And I, the tea cup, heard myself saying something I never thought

I would hear myself saying, "Master, forgive me, I did not trust

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."