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 the last she
placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and 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.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her
granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that
they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she
tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. “What’s the
point,grandmother?”
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity–boiling water–but 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?” 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 are their greatest do you elevate to
another level?