Which One Are You?

Which One Are You?

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things wereso hard for her. She did not how she was going to make it and wanted togive up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problemwas 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 the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without sayinga word.

The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he and turned off the burners.He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggsout and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it ina bowl.

Turning to her he asked, "Darling, what do you see." "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did andnoted 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. Finally, heasked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

She humbly asked. "What does it mean Father?"

He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boilingwater, but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But 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," he asked his daughter? "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

How about you? 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? Were you afluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff have youbecome hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but are you bitter andtough with a stiff spirit and heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, thething that is bringing the pain, to its peak flavor reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.

If you are like the coffee bean, when things are at their worst, youget better and make things better around you.

When people talk about you, do your praises to the Lord increase? Whenthe hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, does your worship elevate to another level?

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

?Author Unknown