Friends and Family,

Today I came across this very interesting story/analogy that I wanted to share titled “God’s Coffee.”

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.”

The line following line really caught my attention: ” While it is normal (I would add “for the flesh”) for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.”

Think about that for a few minutes – what is the source of most of our problems and stress? Probably as this story states – wanting the best for ourselves. What if instead we pursue God, surrender to God and allow Him to give us His best ?  Something to think about.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

In His Service,

Ed