Hot Chocolate
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.
