There was a couple who liked to go to England to shop in their beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This particular day they were celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.
In one of the shops they saw a beautiful cup. They asked, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so lovely."
As the sales-lady handed it to them, the cup suddenly 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 and said, '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 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, and he put me on the shelf; 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 then 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 would 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 into that second oven, you would not have survived 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.”
- Author Unknown
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Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19 NLT
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
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