September 2026 Magazine Article: Story of a Teacup

From Pam's Corner

Ben Haden, a beloved radio and television minister, told this story which was handed down by a friend’s grandmother.

A couple were in England to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Both appreciated antiques. In Sussex, they passed a china shop and a single little teacup caught their eyes. They went inside.

“May I see that?” the lady asked. “I’ve never seen a teacup like it. It’s beautiful!”

But suddenly the teacup spoke! “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me. I yelled out, ‘Leave me alone!’ But he only smiled and said, ‘Not yet.’”

The teacup continued the story: Then I was placed on a spinning wheel. I was spun around and around and around. “Stop it! I’m getting dizzy,” I yelled. The master only nodded and said, “Not yet!”

Then he put me in an oven. I’ve never felt so much heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and 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 a shelf and I began to cool. “There, that’s better,” I said. He brushed me and painted me. The fumes were horrible and I thought I would gag. “Stop it!” I cried.

He only nodded. Not yet.

Then he put me back into another oven, not the first one, but one twice as hot. 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 and saying, “Not yet.”

Then I knew there was no hope and I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on a shelf. An hour later he handed me a mirror and said: “Look at yourself.”

I did and I said, “That’s not me, it couldn’t be me! I’m beautiful!”

“I want you to remember,” he said, “I knew it hurt to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you, you would 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 in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed you and painted you, but if I hadn’t done that, there would have been no color in your life. And if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you would not have survived for very long and the color would not have held. Now, you’re a finished product. Now, you’re what I had in mind when I first began creating you!”