A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so
hard for her. She did not 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 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 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?
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 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 reaches 212 degrees
Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. If
you are like the coffee bean, when things are at their worst, you get
better and make things better around you.
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
When people talk about you, do your praises to the Lord increase?
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, does your
worship elevate to another level?
II Corinthians 4:8-9 - We are troubled on every side, yet not
distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
"God has a purpose in our heartaches, The Savior always knows what's
best; We learn so many precious lessons in each sorrow, trial & test. "