Post by rickismom on Sept 11, 2004 16:43:30 GMT -5
Appropriate for 9/11:
There was a couple that used to go England to shop in a beautiful antique
store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both
liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional
cup, they asked, "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so
beautiful."
The lady handed it to them and suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't
understand" It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time
when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded
and patted me over and over and I yelled out...Don't do that! I don't like
it! Let me alone."
But, he only smiled and gently said; "Not yet!!"
Then...WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun
around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to
be sick!' I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not yet.'
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself
and then...
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked
and pounded at the door. " 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'.
"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 much better," I thought.
But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please; Stop it, Stop
it!!' I cried.
He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the
first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I
begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make
it. I was ready to give up. 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?"
An 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'm
beautiful!"
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt
to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just 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 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."
The moral of this story is this:
G-d knows what He's doing (for each of us). He is the potter, and we are His
clay. He will mould 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 will.
So, 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....
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
There was a couple that used to go England to shop in a beautiful antique
store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both
liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional
cup, they asked, "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so
beautiful."
The lady handed it to them and suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't
understand" It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time
when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded
and patted me over and over and I yelled out...Don't do that! I don't like
it! Let me alone."
But, he only smiled and gently said; "Not yet!!"
Then...WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun
around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to
be sick!' I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not yet.'
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself
and then...
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked
and pounded at the door. " 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'.
"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 much better," I thought.
But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please; Stop it, Stop
it!!' I cried.
He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the
first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I
begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make
it. I was ready to give up. 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?"
An 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'm
beautiful!"
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt
to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just 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 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."
The moral of this story is this:
G-d knows what He's doing (for each of us). He is the potter, and we are His
clay. He will mould 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 will.
So, 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....
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
