ADVERSITY
A daughter complained to her father 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 that as one problem was 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 saying a word. The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently
waited, wondering what he was doing.
In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He fished
the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs
out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out
and placed it in a mug.
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 and noted
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, he asked 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, boiling
water, 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, my friend? 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 a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a divorce,
or a layoff have you become hardened and stiff. Your shell looks
the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart?
Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water,
the thing that is bringing the pain, to its peak flavor when it
reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest,
it just tastes better.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get
better and make things better around you. How do you handle adversity?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
Parable submitted by sister Asiah
[94:6] Indeed, with pain there is gain.
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