The Coffee Cup

I found this article such interesting...

A group of alumni, long established in their careers and very successful, got talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, conversation soon turned into complaints about all the stress in their work and lives. 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 each of the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor watched and listened to them for a little while. Then he 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 gives us life. He makes 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.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply, speak kindly, and spend time over your coffee.