This is a good lesson for all of us, no
matter what stage of life you’re in. You’ll see what I mean.
A young woman went to her grandmother and
told her about her life and how things were so hard for her – her husband had
cheated on her and she was devastated. 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 soon as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her grandmother 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 granddaughter, she asked,
‘Tell me what you see.’
‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ she replied.
Her grandmother brought her closer and asked
her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The grandmother
then asked the granddaughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the
shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.
Finally, the grandmother asked the
granddaughter to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled as she tasted its
rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked, ‘What does it mean, grandmother?’
Her grandmother 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 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 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 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 along
their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten 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.
May we all be like the COFFEE.
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