{"id":5768,"date":"2011-08-08T19:13:09","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T23:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=5768"},"modified":"2011-08-08T19:13:09","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T23:13:09","slug":"inspirational-love-this-story-or-not-you-will-not-be-able-to-have-tea-in-a-tea-cup-again-without-thinking-of-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/08\/inspirational-love-this-story-or-not-you-will-not-be-able-to-have-tea-in-a-tea-cup-again-without-thinking-of-this.html","title":{"rendered":"INSPIRATIONAL – Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this."},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a Little Tea Cup<\/span><\/h1>\n
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\n\"\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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There was a couple who took a trip toEnglandto shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.\u00a0 They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked “May we see that?\u00a0 We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As\u00a0 the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t understand. I\u00a0 have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red\u00a0 clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, “Don’t do that. I\u00a0 don’t like it! Let me alone,” but he only smiled, and gently said, “Not yet.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then\u00a0 WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was made to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and\u00a0 knocked and pounded at the door.\u00a0\u00a0 “Help! Get me out of here!” I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, “Not yet.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! “Ah, this is\u00a0 much better,” I thought.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over.\u00a0 The fumes were horrible.\u00a0 I thought I would gag. “Oh, please, stop it, stop, I cried.”\u00a0 He only shook his head and said, “Not\u00a0 yet.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then\u00a0 suddenly he puts me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one.\u00a0 This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged.\u00a0 I pleaded.\u00a0 I screamed. I cried.\u00a0 I was\u00a0 convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up.\u00a0 Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, “What’s he going to do to me next?”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, “Look at yourself.” And I did. I\u00a0 said, “That’s not me.\u00a0 That couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quietly he spoke: “I want you to remember. I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up. I\u00a0 know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it 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. If I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He’s doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So\u00a0 when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to “stink”, try this.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God Bless You!<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n


\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m a Little Tea Cup   There was a couple who took a trip toEnglandto shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.\u00a0 They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. 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