Not Yet - The Teacup Parable

Ray heard this story recently and retold it to me.  Sure enough, I googled the above title and found the following passage.  It seems to be a rather well-known story illustrating why God allows us to go through trials, yet I had never heard it before.  The rendition I was told was slightly different from the original version that you can find on the internet.  In this version the teacup is talking to a lump of clay instead of a couple on their 25th wedding anniversary and the intention is to illustrate the difference between basic faith and a willingness to let God, the Master Potter, work on us as we live out our faith.  I hope it inspires you as much as it did me.

There was once a lump of clay and a beautiful teacup.  The teacup was admired by many people for her beauty.  The lump of clay longed to be like the teacup.  She sighed and said "I wish I could be admired and loved like you!"
“I haven’t always been like this,” the teacup said.

“There was a time when I was a hard, ugly lump of gray clay. No one wanted me….except the Master Potter. One day, He picked me up and began to work me in His strong hands, molding me, pounding me, and rolling me in His grip.

I cried out, ‘Stop that! It hurts! It is too painful! Leave me alone!’

The Master Potter smiled gently and simply said, ‘Not yet.’

Then He put me on a wheel where I began to spin and spin and spin. I felt sick. I felt dizzy. I wanted to slow down. I wanted to get off! All the while as He spun me, He continued to shape me and mold me. I screamed, ‘Let me get off! Stop! Stop!”

But, the Master Potter just smiled and said, ‘Not yet.’

Finally, He took me off of the wheel. As I was admiring my new shape, the Master Potter scooped me up and put me in a large furnace. This oven was hotter than I could have ever imagined. I began screaming!

Help me! I am going to die! I can’t take it! Don’t you love me? I can’t survive this! Get me out!’

But, the Potter just watched through the glass. I saw Him kindly say, ‘Not yet.’

Just when I thought I would be destroyed from the heat, the Master Potter took me out of the furnace. I was relieved until He began to paint me. The paint was horrible. I began to choke on the terrible smelling fumes.

I cried out to the Master, ‘Please, please, please stop!’

He smiled gently and said, ‘Not yet.” And then, He put me BACK INTO THE FIRE!

This second firing was twice as hot as the first. I was certain that I would be destroyed in the heat.

I gasped, “Please let me out!”

The Master Potter simply said, ‘Not yet.’

After what seemed to be eternity, the Master took me out of the furnace and put me on a shelf to cool. It seemed like I waited and waited and waited for an eternity. It was then that I caught a glimpse of myself reflecting in a mirror.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t believe how much I had changed.

I was completely new. I was a totally new creation, looking nothing like I did in the beginning. The Master had transformed me. When I was a lump of clay, no one except the Potter would even give me a second glance. Now, after the pounding, the molding, the shaping, the spinning, the heating, the painting, and the waiting, I have become a beautiful, priceless treasure, sought after and desired by many.

I remember that as the Potter gingerly picked me up, He whispered, ‘Now you are what I had in mind when I first began you.’

I knew that I am a treasured possession.”
"Do you still want to become a beautiful teacup?" said the teacup to the lump of clay.

Author Unknown