There was a couple who used to hunt for good antiques, potteries, especially teacups etc in stores. One day they saw a beautiful teacup in a beautiful shop. They said to the shopkeeper, "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. I haven't always been a teacup like this. There was a time when I was red and I was only a clay. My Master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "leave 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. I screamed, "Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!", 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 then the door opened, He took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later He handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself now." And I did. I said, "Is that me? 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'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 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 in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have not been there. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."