InspirEmail No 131 - April 7, 2008

Empowerment is all about letting go so that others can get going
Kenneth Blanchard

InspirEmail No 131 - April 7, 2008
'Inspirational messages to refresh the spirit and boost the emotional bank account'

The Teacup

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said 'May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful.' As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.

'You don't understand,' it said. 'I haven't always been a teacup. There was a 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 and said, 'Not yet.'

'Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,' the teacup said, 'and suddenly I was spun 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 never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled, and I knocked at the door.'

'I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head and said, 'Not yet.'

'Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool.'

'There, that's better,' I said. 'And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.' 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded and said, '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.'

'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful and I'm beautiful,' I said.

'I want you to remember, then,' came his reply, '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 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 colour 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 now what I had in mind when I first began with you.'

Author Unknown

April Featured Inspiration
When the message light doesn't blink

Seeing one of her neighbour's children playing alone, a woman asked him where his brother was. 'Oh,' he said, 'he's in the house playing a duet. I finished first.' Too many people find themselves playing a duet alone. Too many people are lonely. They rise alone in the morning . . . read the story >>>

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