The Carrot, the Egg, and the Coffee beans

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 that, as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. There she filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. 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 took out the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled "t, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" the mother asked her daughter, "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

"Are you like the carrot that seems strong but, with pain and adversity, wilt and become soft and lose strength?"

"Or are you like the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Do you have a fluid spirit but, after a death, a breakup, or a financial hardship, your shell looks the same, but on the inside you are bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?"

"Or are you like the coffee beans? The beans actually change the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, they release 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? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"