Good Coffee

I received a thought provoking story in an email a while back. Since it is about coffee, I thought I would use it as a good excuse to make a coffee card. Since I can't drink it anymore, I'll have to settle for stamping about it. (smile)

This card was made from Stampin' Up's Au Chocolate Paper. The stamp is by Darcie. I made the flower using one of the Martha Stewart flower punches I bought a few weeks ago. (I love it!) I punched 3 of them from cream colored velveteen paper, connected them together with a brad. I covered the brad with a brown velveteen mini flower from a punch that I've had forever. I colored it with Prismacolor pencils. The brown behind the main image is the velveteen paper trimmed with the cloud Fiskars paper edgers.

Another one using the same stamp and same paper pack. This time I trimmed the Chocolate Chip cardstock with a fancy edger on my paper trimmer.

I received these Stamping Bella images in an image swap with Denise. I just may have to order this stamp someday. In the meantime I stamped a "to go coffee cup" from Hambo Stamps to go with these coffee loving friends.

And now the story:

Good Coffee
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, 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. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each others' cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, or change, the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!" The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.