Hold And Carry On

There was a couple who used to go to England 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 teacup. They said, “May we
see that? We’ve never seen one quiet so beautiful.” As the lady
handed it to them, suddenly the teacup 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 teacup 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. I wondered 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 I knew I would suffocate.
I begged. I pleaded, I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him
through the opening nodding his head saying, ‘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 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.’ “‘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 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 the 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 you.'”
Moral: While you are in your toughest phase of life, God is taking
you through the journey to make the best of what he has thought
about you. Hold yourself and carry on.