Uncle Roop Singh tells us of a time when a boy came to him. The boy was thinking of cutting his hair because people were making in fun of him for being a boy with long hair. So uncle Roop told him a story:
Once there was a potter who took some clay and started squashing it. He kept squashing the clay for a long time and the whole time the clay kept yelling “Please stop it, stop it!” Maybe he was being mean to the clay! Then the potter took the clay and put it on a wheel. He started spinning the clay. The clay said “Please stop it, I'm getting dizzy, I beg you stop!” but the potter continued spinning and spinning the clay until it came in to the shape of a cup.
Now the potter very gently took the cup. He handled it with great care and put the cup in a kiln. The cup was having a hard time understanding how the potter was being so kind and caring this moment, and just a bit ago he was hurting him and also making him dizzy. Inside the kiln huge flames rose up from everywhere. The cup started screaming “Please stop it, let me out of here, I'm burning, I beg you stop it!!!” The potter just looked at him and smiled and said “No, no, not yet.” After the flames went out, the potter very gently took the cup out of the kiln.
Now he lovingly put the cup on a table. Then he got out his paint set. He started stroking the cup with his brush. Now the cup started laughing “Hahahaha, stop it, that tickles! Stop it, hahahahaha, stop it!” But the potter just said “No, no, no, not yet,” and continued painting for a while longer.
Now the potter brought the cup to the fires of the kiln again. Again the cup yelled, “Stop it, please stop it, I'm burning again, I beg you, stop it!” and again the potter said “No, no, no, not yet.” After a long while the flames stopped and the potter gently took the cup out of the kiln. He placed the cup on the table in front of a mirror. When the cup saw the mirror he said “Wow that’s beautiful!!”
The potter said “Yes it is beautiful, it’s you. I made you beautiful.” The potter explained to the cup that if he had listened to his cries of “Stop it, that hurts,” when he was kneading the clay, the clay wouldn't be able to go on the spinning wheel. People would just see a hard clump of clay and throw it in the trash. If he had stopped when the clay said, "Stop it, I'm dizzy!", the soft clay wouldn't have ever been shaped in to a cup. People would see some unshaped clay and throw it in the trash. If he had listened when the cup said, "Stop, I'm burning!" from the fire in the kiln the first time, no one would ever be able to use the cup. He would've just been an unfinished cup with a bunch of cracks. People would just pick up the cracked cup and throw him in the trash. When the cup said, "Stop, it tickles," if the potter stopped painting him, he would have an unfinished design on him. People would see the cup with only some art on it and they would throw it away. If he had stopped from putting him in the kiln the second time, the paint wouldn’t have stuck. When people would wash the cup, all the paint would come off, then they’d throw the cup with no paint in the trash. But now the cup went through everything and was finished. Now all anyone can say is “Wow, how beautiful!"
We are also made beautifully like the cup. Our Creator has certainly made us just right. God has made us all in a beautiful way.