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 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 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.

"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?

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 as it reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. If you are like the coffee 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?