There was a couple who used to go to Asperaci to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful cup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the cup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. my Master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'let me alone,'' but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the cup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

"Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat!" the teacup said. "I wondered oO(why he wanted to burn me), and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'

"Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

"Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and knew oO(I would suffocate.) I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening, nodding his head with tear drops in his eyes mouthing, 'Not yet.'

"Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

One ahn 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.'

"'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had 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 knew it hurt and 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.

And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very 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.'"

the tea cup heard herself saying something i never thought i would hear myself saying Master forgive me i didn't 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 for i really want to be a vessel that brings you glory within my life

Moral of the Teacup Story:

The Master knows what He's doing 
He is the Potter, and the slave His clay.
He will mold the slave and make her,
so that she may be made into a flawless piece of work
to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
May the teacup story become our story as we willingly yield to our Potter's hand.