Daily Wisdom 10-03-2003 I'm a Little Teapot

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I'm a Little Teapot

I've heard that house dust is made up of 97 percent skin cells. Isn't that thoroughly fascinating and utterly disgusting all at the same time? Here's the good news. I think I'm collecting enough to build myself a MAID! Right now she's under my refrigerator. Do you suppose I can train her to do laundry, clean windows and serve high tea?

I do love a good cup of tea. I come from a long line of tea drinkers. From early in life I knew how to enjoy a nice pot of tea. I even liked the "I'm a Little Teapot" song. I liked the song, that is, until I got a little older and started looking more like a teapot. Singing happily about how I'm "short and stout"? I don't think so.

There is a version, though, that my husband taught me that has always cracked me up. I still sing this one. Maybe you've heard it, too; it goes like this:

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout.

Here is my handle,

Here is my handle...

Hey, I'm a sugar bowl!"

It makes me think of how God crafted and shaped us to be exactly who we are. He didn't get to the finished project and say, "Oh no! I was trying for a teapot on this one!"

There's big-time frustration in trying to be something or someone God has not designed us to be. It's like a teapot trying to be a sugar bowl - or a vacuum cleaner - or a B-52! It's just not going to work. But as the teapot surrenders to the purpose its designer had in mind, do you know what happens? The teapot is filled up with goodness and warmth. Then, as it serves, it shares that warmth and goodness with others. It's doing exactly what it was made to do. What could be more satisfying for a teapot?

Paul said in Ephesians 4, "In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk - better yet, run! - on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline - not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences." (The Message)

Excuse me, did Paul tell us to be steadily pouring ourselves out? Well, tip me over!

Contributed by Rhonda Rhearrhea@juno.comRhonda Rhea writes for dozens of great Christian publications and speaks at conferences and events across the country. You can find her new book, Amusing Grace, at your local Christian bookstore. Rhonda's husband, Richie Rhea, is a pastor in Troy, Missouri. You can reach them through her Web site atwww.rhondarhea.net