A daughter complained to her father about her life and how
things were
so hard for her.
She did not know how she was
going to make it and wanted to give up.
She was tired of
fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was
solved,
a new one arose.
Her father, a chef, took her to the
kitchen
He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.
Soon the pots
came to a boil. In one he placed carrots,
in the second he
placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans.
He
let them sit and boil, without
saying a word.
The daughter impatiently waited,
wondering
what he was doing. In about
twenty minutes he
turned off the burners.
He fished the carrots out and placed
them in a bowl.
He pulled the eggs out and placed them a
bowl.
Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her he asked..
"Darling, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.
She
did and noted that they were soft.
He then asked her to take
an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed
the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee.
She smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma.
She humbly asked.
"What does it mean Father?"
He explained that each of them
had faced the same adversity, boiling water,
but each
reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and
unrelenting.
But after being subjected to the boiling water,
it softened and 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 however.
After they were in the boiling water, they had changed
the
water.
"Which one are you?" he asked his daughter.
When adversity
knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot,
an egg, or a coffee bean?
HOW ABOUT YOU MY BELOVED?
Are you the carrot that seems hard, but
with pain and adversity
do you wilt and become soft and
lose your strength?
Are you the egg, which starts out
flexible, but becomes hard?
Were you a fluid spirit, but after
a death, a breakup, a divorce, or
a layoff have you become
hardened and stiff?
Your shell looks the same, but are you
bitter and tough with
a stiff spirit and heart?
Or are you
like the coffee bean?
The bean changes the hot water, the
thing that is bringing the pain, to
its peak flavor.
When the
water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst,
you
get better and make things better around you.
When people
talk about you,do your praises to the Lord increase?
When
the hour is the darkest and trials are the greatest,
do you
become more reliant on God?
How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg,
or a
coffee bean?
In faith, knowing that we are forgiven and
loved, we can join Paul who said triumphantly
in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9:
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed..."
God Bless You