THE TEA CUP
This
is a great story that we could all benefit from.
It is a simple reminder of how "Allah" is the potter of our life and
we are the clay. "Allah" is the shaper of each of our lives and when
struggles seem overwhelming, we need to remind ourselves that these struggles
serve a purpose in making us stronger, wiser, and in the perfect image that
"Allah" has for each of His creations.
THE
TEA CUP
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 quite 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 I couldn't believe it was 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 colour in your life. And if I hadn't
put you back in that 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 with you'.
MORAL: "Allah" knows what He's doing for all of us. He is the potter,
and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, so that we may be made into a
flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will, which we
can never escape.
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