Trying Times

A daughter complained about her problems in her life to father. It seemed that as one difficulty was solved a new one arose. She did not know how she was going to make it through the trying times.

To offer his support and insight, her father took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a hot burner. Soon the water boiled. In other one he placed carrots, in another he put eggs and in the last he added ground coffee beans. After boiling for twenty minutes, he separate bowls. He asked his daughter. “What do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs and coffee,” she replied.

He asked her to feel the carrots. She noted they were soft. Then he asked her to break the eggs. She couldn't since they were now hardboiled. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. It tasted good.

She asked, “What does it mean, Father?”

He explained that each food had faced the same adversity - boiling water – but each reacted differently. The carrot went in hard, out comes soft and weak. The eggs had been fragile – their thin outer shells protecting liquid interiors – but after sitting in boiling water, their inside became hard. The coffee beans were unique. They changed the water.

“Which are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity comes, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee bean?

How about? Are you a carrot that seems hard, but with adversity loses strength? Are you the egg? Or you are a fluid spirit that become hardened after a difficult time? Or are you like the coffee beans? When the water gets hot, your best feature comes out.