Carrots, Eggs, & Coffee!

Something to share with... and choose which are you.... a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will
never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

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 and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to
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 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 you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel
the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then
asked
the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the
shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter 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. 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 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 hour is the darkest and trials are their
greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle
adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?


May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,
enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and
enough hope to make you happy.


The happiest of people don't necessarily have the
best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes
along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a
forgotten
past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past
failures and heartaches.


When you were born, you were crying and everyone
around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one
who is
smiling and everyone around you is crying.