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A Cup of Coffee
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old college professor. Conversation soon turned to complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor came in 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 all the students had a cup in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken, leaving the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want 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; in some cases it 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 began eyeing each others’ cups.
“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 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.”
“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” – Philippians 4:11
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old college professor. Conversation soon turned to complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor came in 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 all the students had a cup in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken, leaving the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want 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; in some cases it 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 began eyeing each others’ cups.
“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 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.”
“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” – Philippians 4:11