A cup of tea

This story is taken from @IslamicThinking :)

A group of students, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old teacher. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests tea, the teacher went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of tea and an assortment of cups. Porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive & some exquisite. He told them to help themselves to the tea.

When all the students had a cup of tea 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 tea. In most cases its just more expensive & in some cases hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was tea, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups & then you began eyeing each others cups. Now consider this: Life is the tea; the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain Life. 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 tea Allah SWT has provided us. Allah SWT brews the tea, not the cups. Enjoy your tea."

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