Coffee Cups

I received this via an email many years back. Having just written about coffee in my other blog, I think it is appropriate to share this anecdote.

COFFEE CUPS

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 everything.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the
rest to God.

You are the miracle, my friend, your life either shines a light - or
casts a shadow