Are we carrots or eggs or coffee bean?

[Guest guest]

----Forwarded Message----

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 sucked her teeth and impatiently waited,

wondering what he was

doing. In about twenty minutes he came and turned off

the burners. He took

out the carrots and placed them in a bowl. He pulled

the eggs out and

placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee and

placed it in a bowl.

 

Turning to her he asked. " Dear 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

to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich

aroma.

 

 

She humbly asked. " What does it mean Father? " And 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 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 us? Are we the carrot that seems hard, but

with pain and

adversity do we wilt and become soft and lose our

strength? Or are we the

egg, which starts off with a malleable heart? Are we

fluid spirit, but

after a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff do we

become hardened and

stiff. Our shell looks the same, but are we bitter

and tough with a stiff

spirit and heart? Or, are we like the coffee bean?

The bean changes the hot

water, the thing that is bringing the pain, to its

peak flavor 212 degrees

Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just

tastes better.

 

If we are like the bean, when things are at their

worst, we get better and

make things better around us. When people talk about

us, do our praises to

the Lord increase? When the hour is the darkest and

trails are their

greatest, does our worship elevate to another level?

 

How does one handle adversity? Are we a carrot, an

egg or a coffee bean?