Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee Beans - Which Are You?

Before I post some exciting news of a friend of mine, I wanted to share something sent to me by my friend Catherine. After reading this story and after many trials and adversities in my own life, I can tell you that I am a Coffee Bean! Thank you Jesus for making me a Coffee Bean!! Which are you?

Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee Beans
You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and shared things she was dealing with in 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. She was fed up with life.

The mother took her daughter to the kitchen and filled three pots with water, then placed each on a high fire. Soon the water began to boil. In the first pot, the mother placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the third she placed coffee beans. She let the water in each pot boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes the mother turned off the burners. She took out the carrots and the eggs and placed them each in separate bowls. Then she ladled out the coffee beans and placed them in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, tell me what you see. The daughter replied, carrots, eggs, and coffee.

Her mother asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked her to take an egg and break it. She cracked the shell and realized that it was hardboiled. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma.

The mother went on to tell the daughter that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water; yet 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 in the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water for the better.

The mother asked her daughter, “Which are you? 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, breakup, 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 for the better, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, the coffee bean releases its 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 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?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten or forgiven past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.