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 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 other’s 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, nor 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 the 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!!
 
Since staying at home for my broken foot to heal and during this awful pandemic we are experiencing, I started purging my file cabinets and came across this story.  I thought these words are timeless and worth sharing.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Blessings,
Lisa Beretz, 518-330-9277
 

May we who are merely inconvenienced
remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working home
remember those who must choose between
preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our
children when their schools close
remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips
remember those that have no safe place to go
May we who are losing our margin money
in the tumult of the economic market
remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love.
During this time when we cannot physically
wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving
embrace of God to our neighbors.  Amen.
 
Cameron Bellm, 2020
 
 
This was shared on Facebook by Dick Flanders from the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill on March 14th with this note.  “We share with you this moving prayer written by Cameron Wiggins Bellm, a Seattle mother of two young boys.  Let us pray these words and try to live them as we face the challenges in our country in these difficult days.  Cameron has given her permission to share her prayer and thanks us for praying with her.” #PrayerforaPandemic

Blessings,
Lisa Beretz, 518-330-9277