Love this story... will not be able to have tea
in a tea cup
again without thinking of this.
There was a couple who took a trip to
England to shop in a beautiful antique store 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."
As the lady handed it to them,
suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been
a teacup. 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."
