The Carrot, The Egg or The Coffee Bean – Which Are You?

Hello beautiful souls!  I thought I’d share an old parable with you today.  The original author is unknown, though I did edit this version a bit.  Enjoy!  Angel Blessings, Sheri <3

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so horribly difficult for her. Tired of fighting and struggling, she simply didn’t know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. It seemed as one problem was solved another arose.

The grandmother took her granddaughter into the kitchen, and she filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots.  In the second, she placed eggs.  In the last, she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes, Grandma 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 granddaughter, she said, “Tell me what you see.”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Grandma brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they had become soft.

Grandma then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, Grandma asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma.

The granddaughter then asked. “What’s the point,Grandma?”

Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity – boiling water, but each had 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 experienced the boiling water, the coffee beans changed the water.

“Which are you?” Grandma asked her granddaughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

Think of this: Which are you?

Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do you wilt and become soft, losing your strength?

Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart that hardens with heat? Did you once have a fluid spirit, but after a death, breakup, financial hardship or some other trial, become closed off? Does your shell look the same, though the inside hides a bitter spirit and a hardened heart?

Or are you 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 – its inner beauty. 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 change your environment, or do you allow it to change you?