~LOVELY PINK CHINA CUP~Since it was a tad bit warm yesterday I decided to break free from the confines of my home and do a bit of running around town. Truth said, the walls of my La Chaumière de Briarwood are starting to close in on me. I am, after all, a California native. And all this frosty winter stuff, complete with freezing rain and temps dipping down into the teens, is wearing thin.
I know. I know. It's WINTER!
But, how wonderful that in only a few weeks the birth of a fresh new season will begin. Thank you, God, for change! I"m ready.
So...back to my story!
I know. I know. It's WINTER!
But, how wonderful that in only a few weeks the birth of a fresh new season will begin. Thank you, God, for change! I"m ready.
So...back to my story!
~I'M IN LOVE WITH CHOCOLATE ~My travels found me in one of my favorite places to shop! A tattered little JUNK-JOINT nestled on a busy street in my collage town of Bethany, Oklahoma. I wasn't really looking for anything specific...unless you call my desire to unearth a Vintage Pink Rose Chocolate Pot (Nippon 1895) and CUPS as something SPECIFIC!
I didn't score. No aging china pot and certainly no dainty floral cups...nothing my budget could allow anyway. I returned home disappointed for my plans to serve Hot Chocolate in Style to my sweet Miss K on her next visit were dashed. After all, at present she is my only grandchild and it's up to me to teach her about the finer things in life.
Right?
Well... Maybe not.
I turned on my computer this morning and in my IN-BOX was an email from my favorite Auntie, Ms. P. Attached to her sweet sentiment was the following story. Although I've read it before, after my shopping excursion of yesterday it took on fresh meaning.
I didn't score. No aging china pot and certainly no dainty floral cups...nothing my budget could allow anyway. I returned home disappointed for my plans to serve Hot Chocolate in Style to my sweet Miss K on her next visit were dashed. After all, at present she is my only grandchild and it's up to me to teach her about the finer things in life.
Right?
Well... Maybe not.
I turned on my computer this morning and in my IN-BOX was an email from my favorite Auntie, Ms. P. Attached to her sweet sentiment was the following story. Although I've read it before, after my shopping excursion of yesterday it took on fresh meaning.
~PAPER - PLASTIC or CHINA?~HOT CHOCOLATE STORY
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 eying the cups of others.
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.
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 eying the cups of others.
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.
Blessings to you as you choose wisely the things that truly matter in life...Rebecca
