All friends visited a teacher from our schooling days. During our visit, conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their personal and professional lives.
Offering his students coffee, the teacher 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 us to help ourselves to the coffee.
When all of us had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said,
“Notice that 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; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has, does not define, nor change the quality of Life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”
God brews the coffee, not the cups… Enjoy your coffee!
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Spend time with God over your coffee.
He conveyed it in such a simple manner ! A true teacher - salutations!
Offering his students coffee, the teacher 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 us to help ourselves to the coffee.
When all of us had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said,
“Notice that 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; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has, does not define, nor change the quality of Life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”
God brews the coffee, not the cups… Enjoy your coffee!
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Spend time with God over your coffee.
He conveyed it in such a simple manner ! A true teacher - salutations!
