Since school has let out, we have been going non stop it seems like. I'll hopefully be able to catch up here soon!
I do want to say CONGRATULATIONS to friends of ours that have had babies recently!
Faith and Grady and their new little one, LuElla Rose
Allison and Greg and their new little one, Sadie Jane
Courtney and Matt and their new little one, Charles Matthew
We are so happy for all of you!! :)
This is a story that was sent to me in e-mail and I just love it! Please take a minute and read it.
~The Teacup~
There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, 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. 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 & over & I yelled out, "Don't do that...I don't like it!"
Then, WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting 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 him and then....... he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled & knocked & pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening & 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 & put me on the shelf, & I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled, he picked me up & he brushed & 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 & said, "Not yet!"
Then suddenly he put me back in the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot & 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 & he took me out & again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled & waited...& waited, wondering, "What's he going to do to me next?"
An hour later he handed me a mirror & said, "Look at you." 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, and then he said, I know it hurt to be rolled & pounded & patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt & it was hot & 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 & 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 because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I 1st began with you."
The moral of this story is: God sees the bigger picture. He is the Potter & we are His clay. He is molding us & making us & exposing us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing & perfect will.
Hope each of you are having a blessed day! :)
