This morning, I'm sitting in a very poignant moment- on my big blue couch, in my cold, tiled living room, sipping my favorite South African tea from the most beautiful tea cup I've ever seen (given to me by my friend Joanie for my birthday this year).
Yesterday in church, we were told a modern-day parable that meant so much to where I am right now:
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The Most Beautiful Tea Cup
An American couple went to England to celebrate their 25th
wedding anniversary. Both were fanciers of antiques, and of fine pottery and china. They stopped
in at a china shop in Sussex and were immediately struck by a single, little teacup.
The man asked to see the teacup, and he said, "I've never seen a more beautiful teacup. It's
gorgeous." And then the teacup spoke: "You don't understand. I haven't always been a teacup.
I began as a lump of ordinary red clay. But then my master picked me up and rolled me and patted
me again and again and again. And I screamed at him, 'Put me down and leave me alone.' But
he only smiled and said, 'Not yet. '"
Then the teacup described the entire process of being transformed from a lump of common clay
into the exquisite teacup which the man was holding. It told of how it was spun on a wheel until
it was sickeningly dizzy.
How it was placed into an oven where it knew it would be burned beyond recognition.
How, after being allowed to cool, it was painted all over, and how it thought the fumes from the
paint would suffocate it.
How it was placed into a second oven twice as hot as the first, and how it knew for certain it
would perish from the heat.
How at every step in the process, it begged to be left alone, but it could see the potter smiling and
gently saying, "Not yet!"
How, when it had given up all hope, the potter removed it from the fire and placed in on a shelf to
cool.
And how the potter handed it a mirror and told it to look at itself. The teacup said it exclaimed,
"No! This is impossible. I'm no longer an ordinary lump of clay. I'm beautiful!"
It told how the potter spoke and explained the process: "I know it hurt you to be rolled and
patted and molded into a perfectly shaped lump of clay. But if I had left you where you were, you
would have dried up into something useless."
"I know you were dizzied by the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would still have dried into
something unusable."
"I know the first oven nearly suffocated you, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have
cracked and crumbled with the first use."
"I know the paint was stifling and noxious, but it is the paint that gives you your character and
beauty."
"And I know the second oven was particularly painful and frightening, but if I hadn't put you
there, your hardness would not have held and you would have broken after a few uses."
"Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first started with you."
wedding anniversary. Both were fanciers of antiques, and of fine pottery and china. They stopped
in at a china shop in Sussex and were immediately struck by a single, little teacup.
The man asked to see the teacup, and he said, "I've never seen a more beautiful teacup. It's
gorgeous." And then the teacup spoke: "You don't understand. I haven't always been a teacup.
I began as a lump of ordinary red clay. But then my master picked me up and rolled me and patted
me again and again and again. And I screamed at him, 'Put me down and leave me alone.' But
he only smiled and said, 'Not yet. '"
Then the teacup described the entire process of being transformed from a lump of common clay
into the exquisite teacup which the man was holding. It told of how it was spun on a wheel until
it was sickeningly dizzy.
How it was placed into an oven where it knew it would be burned beyond recognition.
How, after being allowed to cool, it was painted all over, and how it thought the fumes from the
paint would suffocate it.
How it was placed into a second oven twice as hot as the first, and how it knew for certain it
would perish from the heat.
How at every step in the process, it begged to be left alone, but it could see the potter smiling and
gently saying, "Not yet!"
How, when it had given up all hope, the potter removed it from the fire and placed in on a shelf to
cool.
And how the potter handed it a mirror and told it to look at itself. The teacup said it exclaimed,
"No! This is impossible. I'm no longer an ordinary lump of clay. I'm beautiful!"
It told how the potter spoke and explained the process: "I know it hurt you to be rolled and
patted and molded into a perfectly shaped lump of clay. But if I had left you where you were, you
would have dried up into something useless."
"I know you were dizzied by the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would still have dried into
something unusable."
"I know the first oven nearly suffocated you, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have
cracked and crumbled with the first use."
"I know the paint was stifling and noxious, but it is the paint that gives you your character and
beauty."
"And I know the second oven was particularly painful and frightening, but if I hadn't put you
there, your hardness would not have held and you would have broken after a few uses."
"Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first started with you."
_________
I love South Africa, I love Living Hope, I love Capricorn Community Church, but like ANYWHERE on this fallen-earth, there are discouragements, there are trials, there are hard, hard days. I'm taking time out today to evaluate and pray through my next adventures in ministry here in South Africa. I feel like my hands are in a hundred things, but I'm not really the most effective I could be. This may be Satan's attacks, but it also is a great place of humility and is giving me time to really ask the Lord where I need to be serving and spending my time here at Living Hope and Capricorn Community Church.
As I sip tea from my most beautiful tea cup, given to me by my sweet friend from the USA, I'm clearly reminded that I have a purpose here, but I'm not that shiny tea cup yet- I'm being molded and heated and painted. This mission I'm on in South Africa seems to be a lot about molding ME. As much as I don't want this journey to be about me - I want it to be about fruit for the Kingdom - I know God has brought me to this 'island' and solitude to shape me into who He needs me to be.
Although tough and painful, I'm eager to be that tea cup!
