Everyday when I get my Mikey's Funny email I ponder on the wisdom, laugh at the comedy and am always given food for thought.
As we struggle through our daily lives & trials this illustration really spoke to me......
CHOOSE YOUR PATH...
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 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. She brought her closer and asked her
to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they had gotten 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, and 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 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 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 hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do
you elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?
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