English version follows in the second part of the post
Am primit prin e-mail o poveste plina de talc si v-o ofer cu drag.
O familie a plecat intr-o excursie in Anglia pentru a cumpara ceva dintr-un frumos magazin de antichitati, pentru celebrarea celei de a 25-a aniversari de la casatorie. Amandurora le placeau antichitatile si produsele din argila, ceramice, in special cestile de ceai. Au observat o ceasca exceptionala si au intrebat:
- Putem sa vedem cescuta aceea? Nu am vazut niciodata ceva atat de frumos.
In timp ce doamna le oferea ceea ce cerusera, cescuta de ceai a inceput sa vorbeasca:
- Voi nu puteti sa intelegeti... Nu am fost de la inceput o cescuta de ceai. Candva am fost doar un bulgare de argila rosie. Stapanul m-a luat si m-a rulat, m-a batut tare, m-a framantat in repetate randuri iar eu am strigat:
- Nu face asta! Nu-mi place! Lasa-ma in pace, dar el a zambit doar si a spus cu blandete:
- Inca nu!
Apoi, ah! Am fost asezata pe o roata si am fost invartita, invartita, invartita.
- Opreste! Ametesc! O sa-mi fie rau! am strigat. Dar stapanul doar a dat din cap si a spus, linistit:
- Inca nu.
M-a invartit, m-a framantat si m-a lovit si m-a modelat pana a obtinut forma care i-a convenit si apoi m-a bagat in cuptor. Niciodata nu am simtit atata caldura. Am strigat, am batut si am izbit usa...
- Ajutor! Scoate-ma de aici! Puteam sa-l vad printr-o deschizatura si puteam citi pe buzele sale in timp ce clatina din cap dintr-o parte in alta:
- Inca nu.
Cand ma gandeam ca nu voi mai rezista inca un minut, usa s-a deschis. Cu atentie m-a scos afara si m-a pus pe raft… am inceput sa ma racoresc. O, ma simteam atat de bine! Ei, asa este mult mai bine, m-am gandit.
Dar, dupa ce m-am racorit, m-a luat, m-a periat si m-a colorat peste tot… mirosurile erau oribile. Am crezut ca ma sufoc.
- O, te rog, inceteaza, inceteaza, am strigat! El doar a dat din cap si a spus:
- Inca nu.
Apoi, deodata m-a pus din nou in cuptor. Numai ca acum nu a mai fost ca prima data. Era de doua ori mai fierbinte si simteam ca ma voi sufoca. L-am rugat. Am insistat. Am strigat. Am plans. Eram convinsa ca nu voi scapa. Eram gata sa renunt. Chiar atunci usa s-a deschis si El m-a scos afara si, din nou, m-a asezat pe raft, unde m-am racorit si am asteptat si am asteptat intrebandu-ma:
- Oare ce are de gand sa-mi mai faca?
O ora mai tarziu mi-a dat o oglinda si a spus:
- Uita-te la tine.
Si m-am uitat. Aceea nu sunt eu; aceea nu pot fi eu. Este frumoasa. Sunt frumoasa!!!
El a vorbit bland:
- Vreau sa tii minte, stiu ca a durut cand ai fost rulata, framantata, lovita, invartita, dar, daca te-as fi lasat singura, te-ai fi uscat. Stiu ca ai ametit cand te-am invartit pe roata, dar, daca m-as fi oprit, te-ai fi desfacut bucatele, te-ai fi faramitat. Stiu ca a durut si ca a fost foarte cald in cuptor si neplacut, dar a trebuit sa te pun acolo, altfel te-ai fi crapat. Stiu ca mirosurile nu ti-au facut bine cand te-am periat si te-am colorat peste tot, dar, daca nu as fi facut asta, niciodata nu te-ai fi calit cu adevarat. Nu ai fi avut stralucire in viata. Daca nu te-as fi bagat pentru a doua oara in cuptor, nu ai fi supravietuit prea mult fiindca acea intarire nu ar fi tinut. Acum esti un produs finit. Acum esti ceea ce am avut in minte prima data cand am inceput sa lucrez cu tine.
Morala:
Dumnezeu stie ce face cu fiecare dintre noi. EL este OLARUL, iar noi suntem argila LUI. EL ne va modela, ne va face si ne va expune la presiunile necesare pentru a fi lucrari perfecte care sa implineasca buna, placuta, sfanta SA voie.
Daca viata pare grea si esti lovit, batut si impins aproape fara mila si simti ca lumea pare ca se invarteste necontrolat, simti ca esti intr-o suferinta ingrozitoare iar viata pare cumplita, fa-ti un ceai si bea-l din cea mai draguta ceasca, aseaza-te si gandeste-te la cele citite aici si apoi discuta putin cu OLARUL.
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 into 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, and your world seems to be spinning out of control, and you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials, and your 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.
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