Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee beans

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 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 gnashed 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. 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 removing the shell, she observed the hardness of the 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 daddy?”

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?”

Now think 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 inside 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. It reaches its peak flavor at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets hotter, it just tastes better.

If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you got better and make things better around you.

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?