Tea in Church

Yesterday, I really enjoyed the children's story at church....particularly, because it was about tea!

The story for the children focused on being "open" to learning. The story was told (and enacted) about a very smart man who was looking for more knowledge. He had many, many college degrees and didn't think there was anything more in the world he could learn. Nonetheless, he heard of a very wise woman who lived on a mountain top. He decided to visit her, even though he was convinced he couldn't learn any more. When he sat down, he told the wise woman of his dilemma. She gave him a full cup of tea and then offered him more. He found this strange, but didn't want to be impolite, so he accepted. The sage poured the tea into the cup so that it overflowed (and kept overflowing). Finally, she asked the question, "How can you learn more when your cup is already full?" The message, to me, is to always have space for learning from an experience.