Her ‘Favorite’ Broken Cup: A Mother’s Story

‘God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’ 2 Corinthians 9:8

This is my dear friend’s story.  When she told it to me several years ago, my heart was so touched I knew that one day I would write it.  Today is that day.  As you read, listen for the grace.  It is the grace that God extended to her, and her young son, through her favorite cup.

Chris was 13 years old when he gave his mom a coffee cup at Christmas.  It was a nice cup, but not really all that special.  She put it in her cabinet with all her other coffee cups.

Linda and Chris shared the usual ups and downs that parents and adolescent kids experience.  She would talk to him about the things kids and their parents talk about, and he would look at her like she must be out of her mind.  One morning, while they were having breakfast, she opened her cabinet door and reached in to grab the first cup she came to for her coffee.  Her eyes lit on the cup that Chris had given her, and she thought she would show him how special he was to her by using that cup.  She took the cup from the cabinet and then turned to look at Chris.

‘Oh, look, Chris, I am going to use my favorite cup this morning!’  Chris just kind of looked at her, and rolled his eyes.  She later thought about his reaction. But more than that, she felt a nudge from God in her heart.  He told her in that nudge that she had lied to her son.  And she realized she had indeed lied.  That cup was not her favorite cup.  But God revealed to her that she could make it her favorite.  It was a choice.  And she did just that.  She started using the cup every morning.  She made sure Chris saw her using it.  And as God had changed her heart concerning the cup, she found that it really did become her favorite.

Linda had an opportunity one evening to share her story of this cup, and how God had shown her that she had been dishonest with her son about it, at a Mother’s Day banquet.  After arriving home, her daughter dropped the bag the cup was in, and it broke into several pieces.  When Linda saw this, she was quite upset that it had broken.  She did not blame her daughter, but she was truly upset just the same.

The next morning, wondering what she would tell Chris about the cup, Linda reached into her cup cabinet and saw another cup, one he had also given her. It had the words ‘Somebody Loves You’ on it.  Linda immediately felt that God was showing His love to her, and that He had just shown her what her new ‘favorite’ cup would be.

Chris later found the notes she had used to speak about the cup at the banquet.  He wrote her a note, and made the comment that she was a really good mom.  Linda saw how God had worked in that entire situation, a mom and son connecting at last, all because of a broken ‘favorite’ cup.

Linda’s mind went immediately to Matthew 26:39, as Jesus prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as You will.’

Life is full of choices, and it is full of lessons, through even the smallest and ordinary things.  Things as small and ordinary as a broken ‘favorite’ cup.

Blessings!