I love this analogy: You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, causing you to spill coffee everywhere.
Why did you spill the 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 spilled tea. Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.
Therefore, when life comes along and bumps you, or shakes you (which it will!) whatever is inside you is what will spill out. It is easy to fake it, until you get bumped.
So we need to ask ourselves, ‘What’s inside my cup?’
Life has certainly given us a mighty bump lately hasn’t it? And what has spilled out of your cup as a result? Anger, resentment, greed, nastiness? Life provides the cup and we can decide how to fill it. Let’s try instead to spill out joy, gratitude, kindness, empathy and hope.
In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. Philippians 4:8 Good News Translation
Janine de Paiva
Junior School Chaplain
