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 all the fighting and
struggling. It seemed as though in solving one problem, two more
would arise.
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 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 poured it in a
cup.
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 carrots went in strong, hard, and
unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, they
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, the
insides became hardened.
However, the ground coffee beans were unique. 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 changeable heart? Were
you a fluid spirit, but after difficult times, have you become
hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but are you 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. When the water reaches it's peak
temperature, it just tastes better. If you are like the bean, when
things are at their worst, you get better and make things better
around you.
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?
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee
bean?"
Please God, help me to be a coffee bean! Amen."
--Selected from God@Work newsletter. God@Work is a ministry of St Mark's United Methodist Church, 8550 Pioneers Blvd., Lincoln Nebraska 68520 U.S.A.
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