TEACUP STORY – BY JOYCE MEYER.A couple went into an antique shop and saw this BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL MAGNIFICENT little tea cup sitting high up on a shelf. And they just fell in love with that tea cup. They said,” We have got to have that teacup!” They were admiring the teacup – all of a sudden the teacup began to talk to them.
It said, " You know, I have not been always like this! There was a time when nobody would have wanted me. There was a time when I was not attractive at all. You see there was a time in my life when I was just an old, hard, gray lump of clay. And the master potter came along and he picked me up one day and he began to pat me and reshape me; and I said,” STOP IT! What are you doing? That HURTS! Ahhh, LEAVE ME ALONE!’ and he simply looked at me and said,”Not yet!”
And then he put me on this wheel and he began to spin me around, and around and around! And I got so dizzy and could hardly see where I was going anymore! I was losing it! Everything was spinning around and around and I felt sick to my stomach. And I said; “LET ME OFF HERE!” and he said: “ Not yet!”.
Finally, the day came when I had taken on another shape. All of that spinning around finally gave me another shape. All of that patting and molding and squeezing and pinching gave me another shape. And all of a sudden – he put me into this FURNACE! It is called the first firing. And ‘twas SO HOT in there! Oh, I could not believe how hot it was. I thought, " I can’t stand this! I’m going to DIE in here! ‘GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! Don’t you love me??(Crying.) Why are you leaving me in here?’ You see, the oven door had glass in it and the master would just look in his eyes AND HE WOULDN’T LET ME OUT!! But he would just smile at me and say, ‘ Not yet!!
FINALLY, the oven door opened and he took me out – set me on a shelf and I thought, ‘Whew! Thank God that is over!’. Then he began to paint me all over with this stinky paint! Changing my color from gray to this pretty blue that I am now! And I said: ‘This stuff STINKS! It is choking me!(coughing) I don’t like this smell! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!’ He would just say: ‘Not yet!’.
Then he put me back in a SECOND oven. It is called the second firing, and ‘twas TWICE as hot as the first oven! And I thought, ‘Now, I will DIE in here for sure! This is the end of me. This will finish me off! GET MW OUT OF HERE! I CAN’T STAND IT! I CAN’T STAND IT! Really – I am telling you – I can’t stand it! This is going to kill me ! GET ME OUT OF HERE!’ And he would just look through that glass and say: ‘Not yet!’
Then one day the door finally opened – he took me out and he put me up here on this shelf to let me cool off. After I cooled off, one day he came by and he handed me this mirror and I looked at myself and I could not believe how BEAUTIFUL I was! I could not BELIEVE how I have CHANGED! Why, I did not look anything at all like that old gray clay that I started out to be!
Now, I am this beautiful, little, delicate teacup! And EVERYBODY wants me now! But there was a time in my life when NOBODY wanted; NOBODY liked me; NOBODY paid any attention to me! They just kicked me around; walked on me.
But now – I AM SPECIAL! But I WASN’T ALWAYS this way!”
