A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She 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 flame. Soon the pots came to a boil.
In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans.
The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about 20 minutes he turned off the burners. He took out the carrots and the eggs and placed them in separate bowls. Lastly, he ladled the coffee out and placed it in another bowl.
The father asked his daughter to feel the carrots. They were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she realized the egg was hard-boiled. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma.
The father explained that each item 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 being in boiling water, its inside became hardened.
But the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?”
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 off with a malleable heart? Were you a fluid spirit; but after a death, a breakup, a divorce or a lay-off, have you become hardened? 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; and when the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.
If you are like the coffee bean and when things are at their worst, you become better and make things better around you.
So how do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or are you coffee?
