We are still tasting Hot Chocolate weather here. We are to get snow on Friday. So, in order to add more joy to this still winter season, I thought I would share this e-mail with you from my friend, Maggie! I love hot chocolate, but after reading this analogy I don't think I will appreciate it in quite the same way anymore.
~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at
a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now
retired.
During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress
in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the
professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot
chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some
plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help
themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, 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.
The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot
chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases
even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot
chocolate, 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 hot chocolate; your job, money and
position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and
contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality
of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail
to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.
God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people
don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything
that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!
~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Does any of this ring a bell? It sure does for me! And He has always been good to me...even if it isn't what I really wanted. He knows what's best!
Thanks be to God!!!***
Great thoughts! A friend of ours spoke at a young ladies' tea at our parish once,using the same theme, but she had two teapots, an old plain one filled with fragrant tea, and a beautiful one filled with dirt... It was a great visual ~ But, quite frankly, the hot chocolate works even better for me! Makes me want a cup!
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I'm one of those who want the nice cups, but not necessarily the most expensive. I like a certain cup for whatever I'm drinking. Sometimes my husband will make me a drink and he'll put it in the wrong cup and I'll make him switch it! Bad me:(
ReplyDeleteI'll go make a cup right now! BTW, did you make the delicious-looking cup of hot chocolate in the photo? Yummo!
ReplyDeleteI love the analogy. I think I'll have some hot chocolate tonight!
ReplyDeleteI have to tell you all that Hot Chocolate is such a comfort food. And I never thought much about the cup it was in...I think my focus was always whether or not there were or were not marshmallows IN the hot chocolate. (There is nothing like a marshmallow mustache!) Truth is we didn't have fancy cups to use in an analogy, soooo I would have used the marshmallows. No bia I didn't take the picture, but it is a good one, indeed. Thank you all!!!
ReplyDeleteThat hot chocolate looks SO yummy!
ReplyDeleteYummmm...!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you for posting this! It's actually cold right now, and reading this makes it warmer! :-D