The Teacup.  By Tracey Mason.

Have you ever wandered through an old thrift store and imagined what stories were behind some of the old discarded, worn-out items? Ironically, those old cast outs are a lot like many of us. They were once bright and shiny and had high hopes of a great future, but they ended up here. A smelly old discombobulated, unorganized place just one step away from the garbage dump. Boy they’ve seen better days.

I Like to remember the idiom “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  When something -or someone – is discarded, unwanted or even abused it can still be a valuable treasure to someone- especially to the Lord.

Years ago, my life fell into a complete vortex. I found myself in a pool of tears holding a foreclosure notice to our home, bankruptcy papers, divorce papers and even a protection order. Not long after this I lost both of my parents, and many other things continued to shock my life. I went into survival mode, and tragedy continued to follow. The world took its toll on me, tossing me around like a tumbleweed in the desert. One day I was a wife and daughter, then I was an X-wife and an orphan, with my future dreams all shattered. I felt like an old item thrown away sitting on a thrift store shelf.

Today I will never walk through a thrift store the same, nor ever forget the impact from a lesson I learned that year. It was near Christmas, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a very festive time for me, when a dear quiet-spirited lady from my church gave me a wonderful gift. It was such a surprise when she handed me a beautifully wrapped box. I didn’t have anything to reciprocate with, but I was so grateful for her thoughtfulness. I couldn’t wait to get home and open this exciting little present so when I got into my car I decided to take a peek.  I carefully removed the ribbon, unsealed the tape on one end of the box, dug into the tissue paper and was slightly bewildered to pull out an old used teacup and saucer. In all my excitement I had set the card aside but now reached over to see if there might be a clue to the mystery of this single old teacup. I quickly removed the card from the envelope and began to read the Christmas greeting…. Then in her beautiful cursive handwriting the mystery began to unfold as I read:

“You probably are wondering why I chose to give you an old, less than perfect teacup. Teacups tell stories. This particular one is from Phoenix Az. It came into Roy and Delore’s life in 1961. I have no idea who these people are, the tag on the bottom told me this, but the wear on the cup tells me something else. Its gold is rubbed off, its paint is scratched, sometimes my cups have chips or cracks, sometimes their saucers don’t match. Here’s my point. Sometimes we get chips and cracks in our life, hurts, disappointments, even failures. God has a way of taking those things we think he can’t use and performing a work in us to make us a useful vessel for him. Take this old, tired teacup and fill it with hot water and you will see how useful it is. You will find the things that hurt you the most will make you a better servant for Him.”  

As I looked up from the card and continued to let this process into my heart, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I didn’t feel like a lonely, outcast, or failure anymore. I thought about God’s promises of mercy, love and grace. How he gives beauty for the ashes in our life.   Psalm 40:1-3 came to my mind with such comfort.

“I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my going. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear, and trust in the Lord.”

I was reminded that God is with me and sees me no matter what happens in life. The kindness of that sweet lady reminded me that even if I had been cast aside the Lord would never leave me nor forsake me.

God can use all the difficult things we go through to teach us to seek and trust him. Hard times can help make us be more compassionate to others that are suffering. Trials can actually refine us to be better servants for the Lord and bring hope to those going through similar hardships.

Like the teacup, we may get used, worn out and even have some scars on our heart through the years, but in the end, we may be turning into a very precious treasure. I recently googled my little teacup and discovered it is a vintage Japanese China that is quite rare and valuable.

And so are you.