st 12 : the little teacup

There was once a couple who loved antiques and potteries.  While looking for antiques and pottery items one day, they came across a quaint little shop that sold only teacups. The wife spotted a pretty little teacup with intricate hand-painted design, and asked, "May we see that? We've never seen a teacup quite so beautiful."  The store-lady handed the teacup to the wife with a friendly smile.  Suddenly the teacup spoke,  "You don't understand ... I have not always been a teacup." The teacup said,  There was a time when I was only a lump of cold, hard clay. My Master took me, pulled me, rolled me, squeezed me, put pressure on me, pounded on me, over and over and over, until I yelled out, "Let me alone." He only smiled, "Not yet!" Then I was placed on a spinning wheel.  I was spun round and round and round.  Stop it! Stop it!  I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. My Master nodded and said, "Not yet!" Then He put me in the oven.  I've never felt such heat.  I yelled and yelled and pounded at the door.  I saw Him through the opening and read His lips. He shook His head and said, "Not yet!" Finally, the oven door opened.  My Master picked me up to stand on the shelf, and I began to cool.  Then, He started to brush and paint me all over.  The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.  "Stop it, Stop it!!" I cried. He only nodded, with a sympathetic smile, "Not yet!" Then, He put me back into the oven, not like the first one.  This time, it was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate.  I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried.  I would never make it. I was ready to give up.  The door finally opened.  He took me out and placed me on the shelf to cool.  He left me to stand alone for such a long time,  I thought He'd forgotten about me. Then one day, my Master handed me a mirror and said,  "Here, take a look at yourself." I looked into the mirror and gasped. I couldn't believe the reflection that was staring back. "That can't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!" My Master said,  "I want you to remember, that I know it hurts to be pulled at, rolled over, squeezed in and pounded on, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up and be useless.  I know it made you dizzy to be spun round and round on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.  I know it hurts and it was hot and uncomfortable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked." My Master continued, "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 colour in your life, and if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for long because the hardness would not have held." "Now you are a finished product.  You are what I had in mind when I first began with you." God knows what He's doing for us.  He is the potter, and we are His clay.  Trust God to mould us, make us and shape us,  into a flawless little teacup,  to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will. Lord, help me to trust You to know that  I am meant to be where I am right now  at this point in my life. Whether I feel the heavy pressure, or the painful pounding, or the scorching heat, or the biting cold, or the toxic fumes, help me to remember that it's You, Lord, moulding, making and shaping me to be the best little teacup You want me to be. "Like clay in the hands of the potter,   so are You in My hands ..." Jeremiah 18:6 Mama Teapot says,  "Son, God has a special design for each of us." Little Teacup says, "Ooh God, You so rock!" a silent thot ... by lynn phua