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Carrot, Egg and Coffee
A
young woman went to her mother 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 mother took her to the
kitchen. She filled
three pots with water
and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots
came to boil. In the
first she placed carrots, in the second she
placed eggs, and in 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 daughter, she
asked, "Tell me,
what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee,"
she replied. 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 observed the hard
boiled egg.
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?" she asked her
daughter. "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 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.
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