This is a story that I read on the Internet. My answer follows.
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. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and 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. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked. "What's the point, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity -boiling water- but 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 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, breakup, 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 a 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 to another level? How do you handle adversity?
ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
My answer...
I think that this is a great story. I like the point it illustrates. Here are some of my reflections on this. I would like to say that I am always the coffee bean. Unfortunately that is not always the case.
The adversity can come like a Shakespearean tragedy. When to my dismay the study of Shakespeare was forced on me in high school and later in college I found that tragedy (or adversity) has two different origins. One type is caused by living your life in the free will of others. So, if someone near to you .is having a bad day you are caught up in it through no fault of your own. You become stuck in the enactment of that person's God given free will. When the person is having a good day we bask in the shared sunshine. When the day is not good we are under the same cloud as the other person as well. And our life can be affected by the person in ways that are good and in ways that are not so good. The other kind of tragedy/adversity is caused by our own lack of judgment. What happens in this case is the result of our own exercise or free will and bad choices.
Whatever the cause of our trials and adversity and whatever kind it is we will react and hopefully learn and grow. As I said I would like to think that I am always like the coffee bean. The reality is that - for me anyway - my reactions are usually a combination of all three - the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean. Adversity stretches us to the limit in many cases, and we end up so many times like a "Push Me-Pull You." However, I do not think it is bad to react in any one of the ways listed. We are a combination of many emotions, hurts, loves, experiences, and desires, and these are molded by what we learn. Unfortunately, it seems as though we do not pay adequate attention unless we are dealing with difficult situations. This is how we learn. The Lord uses these times when our attention is at full strength to show us things that we would otherwise miss. I feel that each reaction can be appropriate depending on the situation. We are each - the carrot - the egg - and the coffee bean - depending on what the boiling is about.
For instance, we can be in a situation because we have been too dense (hard like a carrot - and my hair is red... ..) to see what it is about or to get the lesson. It can be either of the Shakespearean types of adversity. However, because of hardness we have been unable to see the truth we need, and the boiling softens us enough to be able to receive the learning the Lord is trying to teach. As we become softer, we can see and receive the input He is giving us. At other times we are an egg - seeming hard to outward appearances - but inside a mush of emotions and being pulled as strongly as the moon affects the tides. We look as though we have it all together, but inside we are a mess. We are so scattered and affected by our upset or emotions that we cannot even really know what we think or what is right. In this type of boiling the Lord helps us to toughen up and take control of our emotions. In our new less fluid state we can receive the lesson and arrive at a conclusion. The danger for the carrot or the egg is that we can go too far in the opposite direction, and when we do we are as lost as when we started.
Then there is the coffee bean. Thank God for the morning that my husband gives me every day. It is my start to the day. The idea in the situation we are discussing is to be like the coffee bean. To be boiled by the adversity in such a way that we quickly grow into an understanding of the lesson. We change so much ourselves that when we do the world is also changed. I think that most people strive for this. When we achieve it we become very wise, and that wisdom affects all around us. However, I do believe that as we grow towards the wisdom and understanding that enables us to be that coffee bean the Lord gives us many carrot and egg experiences along the way. Very few are like Solomon who seems to have arrived at the coffee bean stage without the other type of boilings.
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
1KI 4:29-30
Maybe we see Solomon when all the boiling had already been accomplished - kind of like the overnight star who rose to fame after parking cars for twelve years before being discovered. Maybe Solomon had been parking chariots for his dad, David, and going through the refining boil for a great part of his life too. When we do meet Solomon he has the presence of mind to ask the Lord for wisdom. He does not ask for riches or fame. Maybe he had had his own boiling experiences as a carrot and as an egg. When he pens the book of Proverbs he has arrived at the coffee bean stage. He has wisdom, and he can change the world. And as he does this he also enjoys riches and fame as well. This gives me hope that I will someday be able to reach a stage where adversity turns me into a coffee bean, and that I can then start to change the world. I do think that this ability comes and goes as we grow and I thank God for His unending work in me through the boiling. Hopefully, as I continue to boil I will remember to ask God to give me wisdom - not to just give me a quick fix to the specific cause of my boiling.
Please read Proverbs 2:1-15
Blessings
Corinne
