I did not write this piece.  It was sent to me by a Facebook friend who is going through a rough patch and I thought it had an excellent message, so I decided to share it with my Joy friends.

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

Why did you spill your coffee?

“Because someone bumped into me!!”

Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.

Had there been tea in your cup, you would have been spilled tea.

Whatever is inside your cup is what will spill out.

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL  happen),

whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it until you get rattled.

So we have to ask ourselves…”What’s in my cup?”

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility?

Anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions?

Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it.

Today let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation, words of kindness, gentleness and love for others.

We know God loves us unconditionally and as the Bible tells us in Galations 5:14,

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

What is in your cup?  God hopes it is love.

Patty