Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee?
A fable...A young woman went to her mother and to tell her how things were so hard and that she did not know how she was going to make it and that she wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as soon as one problem was solved, a new, bigger one came along.
Her wise mother (and they are all very wise) took her daughter into the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a stove top burner set to high. When the pots came to a boil, Mom started to add ingredients. In the first pot she placed carrots, in the second she put eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes Mom 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. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter,she asked, “Tell me what you see.”
“Carrots, eggs and coffee,” the daughter replied a little impatiently.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she could see the egg was hard boiled.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee.
The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked,“What does it mean, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water.
Each 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 were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” Mom asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
Ask yourself: 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? My shell may look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and 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 flavour. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level?
How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
posted by Paul Maclauchlan @ 7:42 AM
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