Robin’s Blog

Christian Homeschool Encouragement

Today is Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Pondering Life Over Coffee

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A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal – some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite.

Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee…

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering…

”You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems.”

He continued…”Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups… Then you began eyeing each other’s cups….”

”Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us… God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups.

Enjoy your coffee!” The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have…

So please remember: – the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care Deeply.
Speak Kindly.
Leave the Rest to God.

Author unknown.

Popularity: 8% [?]

There Are 11 Responses So Far. »

Comment by H0MEFree :

Well put.
Our flesh is a constant stumbling block.
Praise God for the blood of Jesus so we can have victory over these things!
Comment by Robyn :

Hi Robin,
Well said!!! Ohh BTW, did you have winners for the book giveaway this week? Im praying I will win before it’s over..,lol.
Comment by Angela :

Robin,
You did it again!… said just what I needed, right when I was started to feel stress over finances. The coffee cups & coffee are a good analogy. God Bless!
Comment by Celia :

I love this post. Gratitude is one of my favorite subjects and this one really made me ponder.

I did stumble over one point though. The article said: Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups, and then a little later it goes on to say: God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups.

Am I wrong here, but according to 2 Corinthians 9:9-11 and James 1:17, aren’t all things provided by God…all good gifts? In my mind since we often pray to God for the right job, home, etc., does that not imply that He is in charge of those things. Yes, we completely ignore Him at times and go for what we want anyway at our own peril.

I’m sorry I do not mean to nit pick…I do love the article, but lately I have also been pondering how many “little” thoughts I might have about God that aren’t true and contribute to my overall lack of trust and understanding of Him which leads to fear. The little foxes do spoil the vines.

Thank you for all you do and God Bless you,

Celia
Comment by Deanne :

Oh, Robin, I just LOVE this! I want to link it from my website, as I recently did an entry on Coffee Humor…this puts my coffee addiction in its RIGHT perspective!!!
Comment by Vienna :

I agree with you Celia. God does supply the coffee and the cups. It is good to be thankful for both. Stress may be coming from wanting certain cups, but on the other hand it may be coming from the wanting the coffee.
Don’t worry, we get what the illustration means. Stay in balance. Listen for the voice of God and constantly go to Him for a heart check-up. It’s all about the heart of the person.
My husband and I were a little out of balance recently. Well, especially me. But I think I was constanly concentrating on being happy with the shabbiest cup. See, if you are always picking the cheapest, smallest, cracked coffee leaking cup to make do with you are probably making the same mistake as the person who is always choosing the best for themselves.
I have a small illustration. We had the same furniture for thirteen years, and our family had clearly out grown it. Now we have been nearly obsessively saving and getting out of debt for the past three years so I tried to not complain about the furniture. But one day I felt the Lord tell me He’d like to give me something, what would I like? Without hesitation I replied, “A new couch!” (I shocked my self with that response.) But I was even more shocked when we had a new entire living room set, not just a couch, two weeks later. Believe me, this living room set was much better than I would have provided for us. The Lord knew I needed a new cup. He provided a much prettier cup to supply my need, which was a place to plant my behind. Isn’t God good?
Comment by admin :

Yes Celia, God suplies everything.

The point the professor was making in this story is they chose the cup based on appearance. Sometimes we chose things (job, friend, purchase) without consulting God–i.e. outside His will. God gives us the life (coffee) we choose by free will the direction.

Thanks for the comment. Good point needing clarifying.
Comment by Pure and Sensible :

I really like this story. My dh sent this to me via email.
Pingback by deannecrawford.com » Pondering Coffee :

[...] ministries shared a beautiful word picture of contentment using coffee. I encourage you to read it here. It is simply beautiful to me how the Lord can use anything, even coffee, to open my eyes to more [...]
Comment by Joe Sturgill :

This parable offers wisdom, but my cynical eyebrow raised at the notion of a university professor who acknowledges God. Academia has long been a bastion of atheism…but it is comforting to imagine (in the punchline of comedienne Judy Tenuta) “It could happen!”
Comment by Lady_Hawk49 :

This is fantastic and so true. Let me learn to follow those rules of simplicity and drink a much bolder cup of coffee!