Monday again!

Monday again! Have a good week.

The teacup story

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

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful cup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the cup 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, 'Not yet.'"

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the cup 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!" the teacup said. "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, '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, '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. 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 hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, 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 knew it hurt and 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 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.'"

May we all see ourselves and God's creative mastery in this story of the teacup.

Medical Benefits of Tea

1. Tea can boost exercise endurance. Scientists have found that the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea extract increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which accounts for improved muscle endurance.
2. Drinking tea could help reduce the risk of heart attack. Tea might also help protect against cardiovascular and degenerative diseases.
3. The antioxidants in tea might help protect against a boatload of cancers, including breast, colon, colorectal, skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, ovarian, prostate and oral cancers. But don’t rely solely on tea to keep a healthy body — tea is not a miracle cure, after all. While more studies than not suggest that tea has cancer-fighting benefits, the current research is mixed.

You may be able to boost your fight against the flu with black tea.
Your best defense against contracting the flu is to wash your hands often and get vaccinated against the influenza virus. Black tea may further bolster your efforts to stay healthy. In a recent study, people who gargled with a black tea extract solution twice per day showed a higher immunity to flu virus compared to the people who did not gargle with black tea.

Health benefits of tea#

 A recent study published in the journal Circulation found that drinking more than two cups of tea a day decreased the risk of death following a heart attack by 44 percent. Even less spirited tea drinkers were rewarded: Consuming just two cups a day decreased the risk of death by almost a third.
Tea is a rich source of the flavonoids quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin, and research shows that high dietry intake of these compounds is associated with a reduced risk of fatal heart attacks. In one study, people who drank about a cup and a half of tea per day were almost 40% less likely to suffer a heart attack compared to tea abstainers.

God's Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this," he continued... "Life is the coffee. The jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups... Enjoy your coffee!  
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything.
They just make the best of everything they have."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.
Speak kindly... and leave the rest to God.

Author Unknown

Have a good weekend

Have a good weekend

Have a lovely Tuesday my friends.

Have a lovely Tuesday my friends.

Don't give up

Don't give up, God will give you the strength you need to hold on.

Have a good weekend

Have a good weekend

Enjoy your Saturday

Enjoy your Saturday

Every picture tells a story

In China, lay a small town with a king who ruled selfishly for years on end. He raised taxes at high prices and if a family was too poor, he would charge double! He had a sweet, daughter, Mai with black silken hair and almond eyes. But she and the gardener Chang were deeply in love. The king was not at all happy about this so he kept Mail in a small tower. Every night two doves would carry small messages between the gardener Chang and Mai.

There was an old lord named Sou-Yang who wanted to marry the king's daughter. Sou-Yang was very rich but very ugly and unkind. He said that he would pay millions of rubies and lots of gold for Mai's hand in marriage. The king loved money and riches more than his daughter and so he agreed that they could marry.

On the day of the wedding, Chang had plans of his own. He dressed up as a bus boy and came into Mai's chamber. He took hold of her hand and together they ran to a far far land. After four years of living happily together the king found them and commanded that his guards throw them in a huge labyrinth. Eventually they starved and died in each others arms. The gods saw their sad story and raised them in the form of immortal doves. Now they live in love and happiness in all eternity. Have you seen them? Look out for a pair of doves.

Do you know the story of the Willow Pattern?

The Willow Pattern by BL Bowers

Whilst we sit around the table,
Please allow me to relate,
The entrancing ancient fable,
Of 'The Willow Pattern Plate.'

Every picture tells a story,

Like the Willow Pattern Plate,
Where two lovers dwelt in glory,
And defied paternal hate.

By elopement from the castle
You observe upon the ridge, 
Where the violent old rascal
Chases them across the bridge.

Tries to catch the rogue and whip him,
'Ere he steals the daughter fair:
But the loving pair outstrip him,
Let him languish in despair.

Do you know the story of the Willow Pattern?

      How often do you see this kind of pottery? Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the picture?
Here is one of the stories surrounding the pattern.

There was once a Mandarin who had a beautiful daughter, Koong-se.  She was forbidden to leave her father's Pagodo garden as she had been promised in marriage to Ta-jin.  He was a noble warrior duke who had lots of money. No one was allowed to see her face and so the birds became Koong-se's friends. She would feed and talk to them every day.

The Mandarin employed a secretary, Chang, who also fed and talked to the birds. A pair of turtle doves began passing messages between the two and they fell in love.

Chang sent Koong-se a love poem in a shell which floated into the streams of the Pagoda garden. She
replied, adding sails to the shell and sent it back down the stream.

They did not communicate again until the wedding night on which the Mandarin held a grand banquet for the wedding guests.  They all became very drunk and Chang, borrowing the robes of a servant, passed through the guests unseen. He came to Koong-se's room and they embraced and vowed to run away together.

They were spotted escaping and the Mandarin, the Duke and the guests gave chase across the bridge. The couple escaped on a little boat which was carried by the tide to a distant island. 

They settled on the island and became farmers.The Mandarin, in his anger trapped all the birds in the garden in cages. He then ordered his men to find his daughter and Chang.

After many years, the Mandarin had become very bitter in his failure to capture the two lovers. He then had an idea. He released the two turtle doves and they headed straight for Koong-se and Chang. They were found, captured and thrown into the maze under the Pagodo garden. There they tried in vain to escape but died in each others arms.

The gods were touched by their love, and at the very instant that they died transformed them into love birds. They now live forever, kissing each other happily in eternal love.