The Master Potter

2008 has not been a good year for my sister Beryl..."Lady B" to me. She was diagnosed with cancer, went through surgery, which was followed by chemo-therapy which ravaged her body. Her family and friends gave her wonderful support...people prayed for her...and since Lady B lives in Australia and I live in the USA, prayer was our only resource. It was a tough time for Beryl. I'm sure that only those who have walked that walk can understand.

The distance issue was an immediate frustration for me, because had I been there, I would have asked Lady B if I could give her a priesthood blessing. So I emailed two of my good LDS friends Scott Winslow and Joe Grinceri in Perth, who accepted the request to give her a priesthood blessing. They had never met Beryl but they laid their hands on her head and gave her a blessing...a blessing of good health and peace of mind as she started her ordeal. Beryl appreciated it...I appreciated it.

So the latest word from Lady B's physician is that she is "cancer free". Isn't that wonderful? What is equally wonderful is that Beryl and I have opened a dialogue about spiritual things. We have never really discussed our common beliefs about God, but she opened that door with sweet expressions of gratitude for her medical team and the faith and prayers of family and friends in her behalf.

In a recent email she sent a copy of a story titled "The Tea Cup". It is a story about the master Potter...a parable about the love of God. I'd like to share it.

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 and the shop they visited had a beautiful teacup.

They said to the shop assistant, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it over to them, the teacup spoke suddenly."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, rolled me, 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. '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: God knows what He's doing for all of us. He is the potter and we are His clay. He will mould us so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfil His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Let this story remind you that God has a perfect plan for your life. He may need to place some obstacles in your life to strengthen your character, so that you may be strong in the days of greater adversity. Don't get discouraged when you feel like the heat of the struggle is going to burn you. God knows exactly when to pull you out and deliver you from that problem and when He does you will be much wiser and stronger than you were before. God knows your inner strength and ability to be strong even in the midst of a problem.

~Author Unknown~