A man and wife who are both fanciers of antiques, pottery and china enter a little china shop in Sussex, England. Their eyes single out a little teacup on the top shelf.
“May I see that?” he asked. “I’ve never seen a teacup like it. Its beautiful!”
But suddenly the teacup spoke! “You don’t understand…I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time that I was red…and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me…and patted me over…and over…and over. I yelled out, ‘Let me alone!’ But he only smiled and said: ‘Not yet.'”
“Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,” the teacup said. “Suddenly I was spun around…and around…and around. ‘Stop it…I’m getting dizzy!’ I screamed.”
“The master only nodded and said: ‘Not yet.'”
“Then he put me in an oven…I’ve never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me…and I yelled…and I knocked on 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 did open…whew! He put me up on the shelf…and I began to cool. ‘There…that’s better, I said.'”
“Then suddenly he brushed me…and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible…and I thought I would gag: ‘Stop it…stop it!’ I cried. He only nodded: ‘Not yet.'”
“Then suddenly he put me back into an oven…not the first one…but one twice as hot. 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 and saying: ‘Not yet.'”
“Then I knew there was no hope…and I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened…and he took me out…and he placed me on a shelf. One hour later…he handed me a mirror and said: ‘Look at yourself.'”
“And I did…and I said: ‘That’s not me…it couldn’t be me! I’m beautiful!'”
“‘I want you to remember’, he then said, ‘I know it hurt to be rolled and patted…but if I had left you…you would have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin you 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 you…and painted you all over, but you see…if I hadn’t done that…you would never have hardened. There would have been no color to your life. And if I hadn’t put you back in the second oven…you would not have survived for very long…and the hardness would not have held. Now you’re a finished product…. You’re what I had in mind when I first began with you!'”
Source: Ben Haden, Changed Lives (Chattanooga, Tennessee: Ben Haden Evangelical Association, Inc., 1973), pp. 15-16.
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