Teacup Story

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, and 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 and over and I yelled out, 'Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone.' But he only smiled, and gently said; 'Not yet!'" "Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting so 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 himself and then. Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. Help! Get me out of here! I could see him through the opening and 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 and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and 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 and said. 'Not yet!'."

"Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and 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 and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited ------- and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next? An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.'" "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, then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just 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 know it hurt and it 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. 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 first began with you."

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose 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 and perfect will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this....

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest teacup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

-- Author Unknown

The Heart Is A Beautiful Garden

Once a Junior High School teacher asked her students to bring some potatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each potato will be given a name of the person whom that child hates.  Like this, the number of potatoes will be equal to the number of people they hate. On a decided day the children brought their potatoes well addressed.  Some had two, some had three and some had even five.

The teacher said that they would have to carry these potatoes with them everywhere they went for a week.  As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled smell that started coming from these potatoes.  Also, some students who had many potatoes complained that it was very heavy to carry them all around.

The children got rid of this assignment after a week. When it got over the teacher asked, "How did you feel in this one week?"  The children discussed their problems about the smell and weight.  Then the teacher said, "This situation is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don't like some people. This hatred makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your heart everywhere you go."

If you cannot bear the smell of spoiled potatoes for a week, imagine the impact of this hatred that you carry through out your life, on your heart."

MORAL:  Our heart is a beautiful garden that needs a regular cleaning of unwanted weeds.  Forgive those who have not behaved with you as expected and forget the bad things.  This also makes room for storing good things.

- Author Unknown

Roses and Thorns

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them.

One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns.

Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.

-- Author Unknown

Some talk the talk, but may stumble walking the talk

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. 

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do" bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker and the chrome-plated fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

-- Author Unknown

A New Pair of Trousers (EQ)

A man bought a new pair of trousers for his primary school mates reunion dinner. When he tried out at home, he found that the trousers were too long by 10cm.

He asked his mother to help him shorten the pants. His mother said she could not do it as she was not feeling well and would like to rest early.

So the man approached his wife to shorten his pants. His wife said she was very tired and had a lot of work to do that night, so she could not help him to shorten the pants that night.

Then the man asked his daughter. His daughter apologized for not able to do it that night because she had agreed to go dancing with her boyfriend 

        

"Ah well!" The man thought and decided he could wear his old trousers to the reunion.

        

Later that night, his mother thought to herself, "My son has been very nice to me.     I'll just help him to shorten his pants before going to rest." So she shortened the pants by 10cm. 

Then his wife finished her work and thought," My husband knows I am always very busy and seldom asked me to help him. I would oblige him today." So she shortened the man's pants by another 10cm.

His daughter came home from dancing, and thought, "Papa loves me very much and when I declined to shorten his pants, he was not angry at all! I would help him to shorten his pants." So she shortened her daddy's pants yet another 10cm.

On the next day, the three ladies told the man that his pants were shortened. He tried them on and found that his pants had become shorter by 30cm! 

His reaction:

He laughed heartily, and said, "I must wear this pair of pants to show my schoolmates that my mum, my wife and my daughter are such loving people."

At the dinner, his old classmates were very envious of his loving family. His mother, wife and daughter were very happy to learn about his classmates' reaction. 

What would you do if it happened to you? 

Very often, many would have lost their temper.

How many of us has the "EQ" of this man? Many of us have "High EQ" when dealing with people outside the family, "Low EQ" when dealing with our own family member!