Hot Chocolate

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 - te lling 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.

I received this in an email, and thought it was too good not to share. How true the words are. I'm guilty of going through life wanting more at times. Wanting more dinners out instead of mac-n-cheese from home, more clothes {even though my closet is overflowing with plenty of nice things}, more trips, more, more, more. None of those things that I constantly want more of are going to change me. My friends are still going to love me, no matter what I wear or where I go on vacation. Josh is still going to love me, whether we go out to eat or I cook a not-so-decent- meal sometimes. No matter what I have or what I do, I'm still me. Just a simple girl, with simple dreams. I have been truly blessed by all the things I have been given and have. There are some people my age who are a lot less fortunate than I am. I have a wonderful life, a great apartment, a nice car, good job, and a wonderful future with the man of my dreams ahead of me. I'm truly thankful and can honestly say, I'm going to start enjoying my hot chocolate in my simple little cup.