From Anonymous:
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 does it mean, 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 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 is the darkest
and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another lever?
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I wish that right now I have the courage to say that I am a coffee bean. That whatever the circumstances, in the worst and the darkest days, I would get better and stronger and be able to change the situation around me. I would love to think that i do get better and stronger and can manage everything.
But sometimes, it seems to me that I am a carrot. Looking so tough and so strong at first but after the storm gets wilt, soft, damaged and lose strength and then like a baby crying so hard under the comfort of my pillows in the loneliest times.
But sometimes, it seems to me that I am a carrot. Looking so tough and so strong at first but after the storm gets wilt, soft, damaged and lose strength and then like a baby crying so hard under the comfort of my pillows in the loneliest times.
And I tend be an egg that became hardened and stiff and succumb to pretending that I'm the same. I'm okay but on the inside is full of bitterness and pain and hard feelings.
I guess I am all three at times but I want to be just one.
I hope I could be a coffee bean.
I guess I am all three at times but I want to be just one.
I hope I could be a coffee bean.
How about you?
xoxo
