Not Yet

By Dr. R. Rajan
HLRC, Mumbai.

There was this couple who used to go to England to shop in the
beautiful stores. This was their 25th Wedding Anniversary. They both
liked antiques and pottery, especially teacups.

One day in a beautiful fine shop, they saw this beautiful teacup. One
said,"May I see that? I never have seen one quite so beautiful," and
the lady handed it to him.

As she handed it to him, suddenly the teacup spoke "You don't
understand," it said, "I haven't always been a teacup. There was time
when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and
patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'Let me alone.' But he
only smiled, 'Not yet.'

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and
suddenly I was spun around and around and around and around. 'Stop it!
I'm getting dizzy' I screamed.

But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.' "Then he put me in the
oven. I'd never felt such heat! I wondered why he wanted to burn  me.
I yelled! I knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening
and I could read his lips as he shook his head,'Not yet.'  "Finally
the door opened, he put me on the shelf and I began to cool.  'There
that's better,' I said. Then he brushed me and painted me all  over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it! Stop  it!' I
cried.

He only nodded, 'Not yet.' "Then suddenly he put me back into the
oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I
would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the
time I could see him through the opening nodding his head, saying, '
Not Yet.'" "Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it.  I
was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and
placed me on the shelf.

One hour later, he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself,'
and I did, and I said, 'That's not me, that couldn't be me, it's
beautiful. I'm beautiful!'

"'I want you to remember then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled
and patted, but if I just left you, 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 and 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, and if I hadn't put you back in that
second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness
would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I
had in mind when I first began with you.'"

That's life. That's my life and it is your life. Some of you
are in the oven, screaming, hollering, "Let me out of here!" Some of
you are getting painted and the fumes are bothering you and driving
you crazy.

Some of you are spinning around and you don't know where you are.
You're saying "What's going on? It's a mess here," and the Master
keeps looking and saying, "Not yet, not yet." You see, you've got to
trust HIM.