ADVERSITY
~~~~~~
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 in the last he placed ground coffee beans.
And then he let them sit and boil,
without saying a word.
The daughter impatiently waited,
wondering what he was doing.
After about twenty minutes he got up and
turned off the burners.
He fished the carrots out and
placed them in a bowl.
He dipped the eggs out and
placed them in another bowl.
Then he ladled the coffee out and
put it in a third bowl.
Finally, turning to his daughter he asked,
"Darling, what do you see...?"
"Just 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.
Last, he asked her to sip the coffee.
She smiled, as she tasted the richness of it's flavor.
Humbly, she asked,
"What does all this mean, Father?"
He explained that each of the items
had faced the same adversity,
boiling water,
but that each had reacted differently.
The carrots went in it hard, strong, and unrelenting.
But after being subjected to the boiling water,
they became soft and weak.
The egg had been fragile,
it's thin outer shell protecting it's liquid interior.
But, after sitting in the boiling water,
it's insides became hardened.
The coffee beans were unique,
Instead of changing,
in reaction to the water, they had, instead,
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...?"
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...
and a fluid spirit,
but after a breakup, death, divorce, layoff, or injury
becomes hardened and stiff?
Your shell looks the same,
but have you become bitter and tough,
with a dampened spirit and cold, cold heart...?
Or... are you like the COFFEE BEAN?
The bean changes the hot water,
the thing that's bringing the pain...!
When the water gets the hottest,
it just tastes better...!
If you're like the bean,
when things are at their worst,
you just get better and
make things better all around you...
~~~~~~
How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean...?
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