My little wife Valerie is really quite a blessing to me! I must confess that I am often anxious about things or burdened by some situation that’s not working out the way I think it should. In those moments I am truly blessed to have a wonderful mate who has a way of gently reminding me to “stay focused” on the things that are really important. That was the case the other day when she sent me this great little e-mail message with a story that helped me to put some things in focus. I want to share that story with you all today:
“When a group of friends got together to visit their old teacher, their conversation soon turned into complaints about the stress of work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the teacher brought out a pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive; telling the group to help themselves to the coffee. After everyone had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain old cheap ones. While it’s normal for you to want the best for yourselves; that is actually the source of your problems and stress!” You see, the cup adds no quality to the coffee that’s inside. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...and then began eyeing each other's cups.”
You know this little story got me to thinking about the source of much of our stress in life. You see our life is the coffee, but the jobs, money or our position in society are merely 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. Jesus said,
“…Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” ( Luke 12:15 )
Let me ask you today, are you concentrating more on the coffee or on the cup it comes in? By concentrating too much on the cup, we can fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided for us. My friends, please stay focused; God brews the coffee, He doesn’t care about the cups, so enjoy your coffee!
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