God`s Coffee

上帝的咖啡

A group of alumni, highly established in their career got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

一群事業有成的畢業生結伴回去看望他們的大學老師,很快他們就開始抱怨工作和生活中的壓力。

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, glas crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite—telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

老師去廚房為客人們準備咖啡,回來時端著一大壺咖啡和各式各樣的杯子——有陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的,有的普通,有的昂貴,有的精致,老師讓大家隨意享用。

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 yourselve 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.

等每個人都端起一杯咖啡后,老師說話了:“你們注意到嗎?你們拿了所有好看、昂貴的杯子,而剩下那些樸素便宜的杯子。你們都只想要最好的,這很正常,這恰恰是你們的問題和壓力所在。要明白,杯子不會讓咖啡的質量變得更好。而往往只是花費高了,甚至有時候,讓人忽略了到底我們在喝什么。你們真正想要的其實是咖啡,不是杯子,但你們有意識地去拿那些最好的杯子……隨后開始打量其他人手上的杯子。

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the job, 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. Sometime by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”

試想一想:生活好比咖啡,工作、金錢和社會地位都只是杯子,只是生活的容器。我們擁有的杯子的樣式既無法定義,也無法改變我們生活的質量。有時,由于我們只專注于杯子,我們甚至不能夠好好品嘗上帝賜予我們的咖啡。”

God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee!

上帝沖泡的是咖啡,不是杯子……好好享受你們的咖啡吧!

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”

“最快樂的人并非擁有最好的一切,他們只是把一切變得盡善盡美。”