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.
He told the group 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:
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 the 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 every-thing.
Live simply. Love
generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
You are
the miracle; your life either shines a
light - or casts a
shadow.