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 in 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 - telling them to help themselves to the
coffee, and cream and sugar. 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 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 they have."