“Woe to him who strives with his Maker– a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’ Isaiah 45:9
Would not our lives be so much easier if we would only stop striving?
“I am the potter, you are the clay…”
Do I strive over a physical attribute that my Potter has formed in me? Is it my station in life? The difficulties He has asked me to go through, molding me into a more glorious form?
How sweet surrender is when we acknowledge that He has made all–the earth and everything in it…just the way He intended it. He holds me in His hand. And, He wants good for me, though the means of obtaining it may not match my idea of good.
His ways are not my ways…”hold on, dear soul, and wait for Him“.
The Story of the Tea Cup
antique store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding
anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked “May we see that? We’ve
never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t
understand.” It said, “I have not always been a teacup. There was a time
when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me
pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, Don’t do that. I
don’t like it! “Let me alone,” but he only smiled, and gently said; “Not
yet!!”
“Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun
around and around and around. ‘Stop it ! I’m getting so dizzy! I’m going
to be sick!’, I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly;
‘Not yet.’ He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to
suit himself and then……then he put me in the oven. I never felt such
heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. ” Help! Get me out
of here!” I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips
as he shook his head from side to side, ‘Not yet’.
“When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He
carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh,
that felt so good! “Ah, this is much better,” I thought. But, after I
cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The
fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.
‘Oh, please; Stop it, Stop it!!’ I cried. He only shook his head and said. ‘Not yet!’. Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged.
I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it.
I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out
and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited ——- and
waited, wondering What’s he going to do to me next?
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.” Quietly he spoke: “I want you to remember, then,’ he said,
‘I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just 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
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 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. If I
hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long be cause the hardness wouldnot have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”
4 comments
Thanks, Kelly. I really needed to read that story!
Kelly,
I enjoyed your story about the “Little Tea Pot.” I think many times, us as humans, probably feel the same way as that Tea Pot, while God continues to refine and transform our lives.
I am that teapot now! That is a story about me right now screaming and shouting “enough!enough!” to the Lord, and wanting to run away from church people who go astray and leave mess behind for us to clean. How I hate it…
Thank you very much for the story. God spoke to me through that. I think I am going to translate it and read it in church for others so that they too can have their hope strenthened.
God bless you Kelly.
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