Chicken broth and chocolate-covered mints. Doesn’t sound like a good combination. Why would I even think of it? I did not think of it until one morning this week when I found it in the bottom of a mug.
Wanting a mid-morning snack, I pulled a large coffee mug from the cupboard and poured into it the contents of a pouch of concentrated chicken broth. I was about to add water to the mug; thankfully, before I did so, I glanced into it. To my surprise, I saw six chocolate-covered mints swimming in a pool of chicken broth concentrate.
I assumed that my husband, who usually makes a mug of hot chocolate in the morning, had forgotten what he started to do. He put the chocolate-covered mints in his mug and absent-mindedly placed the mug back into the cupboard. Or maybe earlier in the day, I, myself, had put the mug into the cupboard, assuming that it was empty.
I love chocolate-covered mints. I also love chicken broth. But I was not risky enough to try chocolate-covered mints mixed with chicken broth. So, I picked out the mints, rinsed them off in cold water and set them on a paper towel to dry. Maybe they would still be good. What can I learn from this I wondered?
Hmm. What happens when we don’t look into our “cup”? The one we’ve been given in life. Do we wrongly assume that our cup is empty? Might there be unseen sweet treasures in the bottom of it? Perhaps some unfinished project that we’d enjoy completing, an unanswered letter or a photo that stirs up a happy memory. Maybe some good desire that we’ve set aside and quit pursuing.
Could we take these sweet things out of the bottom of our cup and give them some attention? Like those chocolate-covered mints in the bottom of my mug, that desire, goal, project, or memory might have the potential for placing joy in our lives. And bringing joy to others.
What do we fill our cup with? Chicken broth? Satisfying work. Chocolate-covered mints? Rewarding play. Always one? Never the other? Maybe we unsuccessfully try to work and play at the same time. I enjoy my work but trying to play at the same time does not prove very satisfying to me. On the other hand, if I never take time for play (my tendency), I become drained by my work.
Chicken broth and chocolate-covered mints. What’s the balance? Although the two don’t mix well, separate portions of each can fill our cup with satisfaction and joy.
What a great insight and inspiration Jane. You are always clued in!
Thanks, Judith! You are always encouraging.
love it!
Makes me wonder what I may have forgotten about and put back up on the shelf without even realizing. (Not literally but in life things… maybe also literally)
Thanks for reading and commenting, Courtney. May God fill your cup with many more good gifts and may you re-discover any good things that you’ve forgotten about.
Hi Jane- Glad you did not drink it!!
Sometimes when our cups appear empty, there is actually the presence of God’s sweet surprise….
Thinking this AM of Priscilla Shirer’s book on Discerning the Voice of God- sometimes as we discern God’s will it appear – ” too small to be big” or “too dirty to be clean”. His ways are not our ways, and they are more than we can imagine.
Hi Donna! Thanks for your comment. Yes, God’s ways different than our ways, but he desires, always, to bless us. Finding God’s sweet surprise in the bottom of a seemingly empty cup is indeed refreshing.