“Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee? Which are you?”
A young woman went to her grandmother and told her 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 grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She placed them on the stove to boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. She ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Then turning to her granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs and coffee,” her granddaughter replied.
Grandmother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots, the granddaughter noted that they had gotten soft.
Grandmother then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, the granddaughter observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, the grandmother asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma, then asked, “What’s the point, grandmother?”
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water - but each had reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, 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, however, were unique. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her granddaughter.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?
Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and 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 and trials their greatest do you elevate to another level?
-author unknown
