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 others 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!!!
11 comments:
That's great, Sylvia. A great moral to learn. I shall always remember.
"God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.".....
Nothing truer than that Sylvia. What a great post! Thoroughly enjoyed that.......
What a great story! And such a good moral.
That was great. You can never go wrong with a good cup of cocoa.
I never realized that life's a cup of hot chocolate, but it's an interesting way of looking at it. I think it will appeal to a lot of people. It also makes me feel like having an organic fair trade cup of hot chocolate :-)
I love the second-to-last paragraph, and its insight on happiness. SO TRUE! Cute little story, Sylvia, thanks for sharing it!
This leaves me wondering what I would've done in that situation. I hope I would have the wisdom to make the right choice, but I don't know.
I've been bloghopping the last two days and each blog and its unique community is beautiful.
We visited Seattle and Washington just before we moved to India in 2004 (we're back now in DC). The landscape is absolutely delectable! You are very lucky to be living in that part of the world.
Cheers!
Dear Sylvia, I was so tickled to see you are my site (from our mutual friend Lilly). I've had little time for blogging and been buried in work, but of course I was curious as to who this "Sylvia" was. So I made a note to come visit when I had time. I am so glad that I did. The moment I opened the page I gasped over the photos. So stunningly beautiful. And I just LOVE this story of the hot chocolate and feel it is one we all need to be reminded of more often than not. I tend to live a simple life with heartfelt values, so this story was like a sweet song for me. I love down to earth truths like this one. They many "seem" simple but are the very truths that would change the world if we all lived them. Thank you for sharing this and for your visit. I look forward to getting to know you. And also hope I'll get to see more of your lovely photos. They really are exceptional. Hugs, Robin :)
Sylvia, this was such a lovely post, I copied it to my blog and gave you credit for it.
THANKS or as we say in Hawaii: MAHALO!
Sylvia, that's beautiful and meditative. I have to stop being so shallow :)
Well... I happen to LOVE hot chocolate no matter what it's served in. I'd probably pick the biggest mug.... hmmmm.... sounds greedy....
OK... never mind...
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