Greetings Kiwanis friends!    Staying busy, engaged and constructive is good.  There are countless ways each of us contribute to the lives of others, our families, our Kiwanis club and our own needs.   Yes, being busy can be a good thing.  But, have you ever found yourself so busy that being “constructive” turns into something “destructive” because of the stress of taking on too much?  Yeah, me too.  In fact, I am in one of those valleys right now.  That is why the story below is making it into our Spiritual Aims article this month.  It helped me regain perspective and perhaps it will help you too…

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.