A young woman went to her mother & told her about her life & how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it & wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting & struggling, she was exhausted.
It seemed that as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs & the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit & boil without saying a word.
After about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out & placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out & placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out & placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, & coffee,” she replied. Mom brought her closer & asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg & break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she smelled and tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, “What’s the point, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity-boiling water-but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard & unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened & became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door how do you respond? Do respond or do your react?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
The carrot that seemed strong, but with pain & adversity wilted and became soft & lost strength.
The egg that started with a malleable heart, but changed with the heat. It had a soft center or heart, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, people become hardened & stiff. The outer shell looks the same, but the inside becomes tough and hardened.
How about the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the difficult times and situations, the very circumstances that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, and life gets hard, the coffee bean releases it’s fragrance & flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest & trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle Adversity?
ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
