The Power of 'Not Yet'

Let me tell you a story.

There was a couple who loved antiques and pottery, especially teacups. One day in a beautiful shop they saw an exquisite teacup. They asked the clerk, “May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so lovely.”

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out ‘Let me be.’ But he only smiled and said, ‘Not yet.’ Then I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly spun around and around and around. I yelled and yelled, ‘Stop it! I’m getting dizzy!’ I screamed.”

“But the master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet’. Then he put me in the oven and I felt such heat as I had never experienced before. I wondered why he wanted to burn me and I yelled and knocked on 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 a shelf, and I began to cool. ‘There, that’s better,’ I said. And then, he started brushing and painting 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 but this oven was 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’.”

“When I was sure that there wasn’t any hope, I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and placed me on a 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!”

“Then he said, ‘I want you to remember one thing, 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 you so in the hot and disagreeable 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 held together. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.’”

This, my dear friends, is the true power of “not yet.” We often mistake as a dead-end what actually is just a stepping stone to newer heights which our human mind can’t even foresee. The struggles you are in today are developing the strength you need for tomorrow. So, without fear of judgement or the cloud of self-doubt, create the highest and grandest vision possible for your life and have the courage to stick to it, no matter what!

Find what sparks a light in you so that you, in your own way, may illuminate the world.