The Crystal Cup

A Zen master was given a beautifully crafted crystal cup. It was a gift from a former student.

He was very grateful. Every day, he enjoyed drinking out of his glass. He would show it to visitors and tell them about the kindness of his student.

But every morning, he held the cup in his hand for a few seconds and reminded himself: “This glass is already broken.”

One day a clumsy visitor toppled the glass on its shelf. The cup fell down. When it hit the floor, it was smashed into thousands of tiny pieces.

The other visitors gasped in shock, but the Zen master remained calm. Looking at the mess in front of his feet, he said: “Ah. Yes. Let’s begin.”

He picked up a broom and started sweeping.

WHY? How could he be so calm?

Someone wrote that “half of happiness is being okay with what you don’t get.”

And later wrote “Now I think I know what the other half is: being okay with losing what you have.”

The person who remembers to be grateful for their possessions is ahead of most.

But the person who knows they won’t last is ahead of them still.

Be the second.

We can be grateful for what we have. But, even more so, can be grateful for what we’ve had and lost. Because nothing lasts forever.

Not even the sturdiest of cups.

How about you?