A carrot, An egg and a Cup of Coffee

Work is so taxing the past few months I don’t really have time to write. I work at least 12 hours a day and spends at least 2.5 hours travelling. That’s for the whole week including Saturdays. So that’s my excuse now for not posting anything despite a lot of things happening in my life, good and bad.

But I still have time to read. And one of the inspiring stories from my mailbox is below. I don’t know who the original author is but think it is worth sharing.

A young woman went to her mother and told her 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 mother 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 daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do
you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel
the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.

The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and
break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed
the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the
coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich
aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean,
mother?”

Her mother 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 daughter. “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. You might want to send this message to
those people who mean something to you (I JUST DID);
to those who have touched your life in one way or
another; to those who make you smile when you really
need it; to those who make you see the brighter side
of things when you are really down; to those whose
friendship you appreciate; to those who are so
meaningful in your life.