As the lady handed it to them,suddenly the tea-cup spoke,
“You don”t understand.” It said, “I have not always been a
tea-cup.There was a time when I was red 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 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 yelled and
knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could
read his lips as he shook hid head, “Not yet”.

“Finally, thedoor opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 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 in to 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. 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.

An 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 just 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 know it
hurts 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 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 all of us ]. He is the potter,
and we are His clay. He will mould us and make us, so that we may be
made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and
perfect will.