Facing Adversity
Here’s a great message sent to me by a friend. Author unknown…..
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 strong heat. Soon the pots came to the boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in 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 in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a 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 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.
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
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 loss, many changes, or a layoff, have you become hardened and unyielding? You look the same on the outside but are you bitter and tough with a hardened spirit and heart?
Or are you like the coffee beans? They changed the hot water, the thing that brought the pain, improving it to reach its peak flavour. If you are like the beans, 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? |
Personally Speaking
The interview over the last two issues elicited many responses; some people laughed whilst others were not happy at Anthony’s comments. Rest assured I offer his comments as food for thought rather than endorsing them.
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Kind regards,
Sam Day
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