The Coffee or the Cup (h/t - a dear friend, JoMary, sent this email chain to me)
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 - telling them 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 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. Have a blessed day and enjoy your coffee!
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14 comments:
Much better!!
I still want to puke...must not just be the poop post, I think it will be like this for another 8 weeks or so!
I have seen this before, I like those experiments where they see what is human nature to do, what people will do.
Any story that gives coffee (aka the sweet elixir of life) this kind of respect is alright by me! ;)
I love this cup of inspiration!
Yep - that is the place! Good eyes with the Mary Statue...I didn't think anyone would notice. I love it there, if you find yourself there again let me know!
Love it! Thank you for posting it. And I agree on the coffee... which reminds me... where is my mug?
sorry about deleting both of your comments! I meant to delete the first, got all confused somehow and deleted both :(
Sarah, hi, I was reading responses that friends have left for Nancy at Be Not Afraid this morning, and I noticed, I actually zeroed in on, your use of the term uff dah. I spell it uffda usually, and I even have a pin that says uff da, but oh, do I ever recognize and appreciate it in any form! Hearing it in unexpected places is akin to finding long lost brethren! :) ! I'm just having fun here. Certainly you are of Scandinavian descent? My own descent is Norwegian through and through, and this expression among many, came to me from generations of family I've long known and long loved. Reading your use of it makes the community of bloggers and blogs feel that much more like 'home!' Thanks! God bless you, Sarah.
p.s. I very much enjoyed this post. It's fun, engaging, meaningful, and all the more endearing to me personally because I loooooooove coffee.
I must admit, I do look for the cute mugs! LOL! I still enjoy the coffee. What a fun analogy kind of thing.
Coffee salute to all!
Dismas - it's alright. privacy is a good thing . . . I didn't mean to blow your cover so to speak. But, Yeah, I love that place - very holy and filled with many that are living an authentic Catholic life. I found Mary 'cos I knew where to find her, right? I recognized the buildings, my mind churned and I looked. She was confirmation.
aspiring - I'll have to check out your blog when it's not nearing 10:30 pm - time to bed and a book (Diary of a Country Priest - I finally finished Boys Adrift so I can return to fiction again). Yes, just to briefly say I am at least a quarter Norwegian, and eighth of Swede and an eighth Finn. The other half of me is German, Dutch, Irish. My mum is half Norske and used all sorts of Minnesota Norwegian she grew up hearing in her mum's full-blooded MN Norwegian. I've got a few other words I use, but cannot spell them for the life of me. And, a folk song! I bought a coffee mug that says 51% Norwegian. Maybe I'll make it my profile picture for a while. While it's false advert, what the heck! I write halfish British so I'm all wonky!
This is a great post—fun and inspirational! I love coffee, too!
Fantastic, I'm going to forward this on my email!
wonderful story...where did it come from?
Oh, LOVE this! Always looking for an excuse to drink coffee, Now I can just say it's to remind myself of this great anaolgy!
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