The Cup Or The Coffee? …Hello dear readers. You all know how I love coffee and I know a lot of you also love coffee! My love for a ‘cup of joe’ started with my dad when, very early in the morning we would go out on the long T-dock at our resort, sit in our chairs with good hot coffee and watch the Loons dance and sing. It was magical in so many ways but to be honest, it really was being with my dad with a cup of coffee and learning some darn good wisdom!

Joe Becigneul, was a teacher at St. Albert Catholic school & college in Alberta, Canada. He’s a sports coach and a coach for helping students in their lives. He now is a writer with stories that help us understand living, such as finances, religion, sharing and lots more. This story is one I have shared with many times because it really is about our “walk of faith.”  Enjoy!

“At a college reunion a group of alumni—now doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc., were invited to visit their professor Joe Becigneul. They chatted about their careers and families, but soon the conversation shifted to life’s pressures, stress, and constant chasing after more.  After listening for a while, Joe smiled and said, “Hold on a minute. I’ll go make us some coffee.” The students laughed out-loud saying, “Just like in class, coffee and more coffee!” (Canada ranks globally for coffee consumption!) Joe waved them off and then came back with a large pot and a lot of cups which not a single one of them matched to one another! Some were fine porcelain, others were plain ceramic, a few were chipped glass mugs, and one even looked like it came from a diner. As everyone reached for a cup, Joe watched in silence. Once they all had coffee in hand, he said: “OK, my once young students who are now adults, I think you’ve forgotten something. Notice what just happened. Most of you instinctively reached for the nicest cups—leaving behind the simpler ones. It’s normal to want the best for ourselves, but that’s often where the stress begins. Think about this—the cup doesn’t make the coffee taste any better. What you really wanted was the coffee. But you still focused on the cup!” His adult alumni were perplexed and said “Joe, what did we miss?” Joe paused a minute and then smiled saying “Life is like the coffee. Your job, your house, your income, your status—those are just cups. They help contain life, but they don’t define it. And the trouble is, the more we focus on the cup, the more we miss out on the coffee in the cup!”

It was quiet for a minute then one man said “Ah, perhaps we need to go back to school again, how did we not get this?” Joe told them that “Happy people don’t always have the best of everything. But they know how to make the best of what they have.” Looking at all of you today made my heart jump, seeing you in so many wonderful jobs and I hear often of how you are making a difference in this world. But I am sure that every one of you have had your own set-backs, losses and so much more, right? They al nodded and shared some of those stories. Then Joe asked them the ‘coffee question’ – “How did you make the best in those trying times?”

Some said they relied on their faith, others saying it was tough, but one in particular, who was one of the toughest kids Joe had in his class said, “Joe, without God I wouldn’t even be here today.” The class was quiet and Joe let them stay that way for a bit, wanting them to think about their faith and what they were doing with it. Then he asked the student what helped him and he replied “The words from John 14:27 that was always on your chalk-board, I say it daily: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

This story hits me every time I get myself a cup of coffee! I hope it grabs your heart knowing that it’s ‘what in the cup’ that our precious Savior wants us to drink and think, and remind ourselves we are not alone in trying times because Jesus is always there! AMEN.