Handling Adversity

I read this story/lesson at work and I just really wanted to share it with everyone:
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A woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her.  She didn't know how she was going to make it and wanted to five up.  She was tied of fighting and struggling. It seemed just 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 places ground coffee beans.



Her mother 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. She then 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," her daughter replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her daughter to take an egg and break it.  After pulling off the shell, the daughter observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked her daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "What is the point, Mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrots 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 insides 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?"

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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 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 vary circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets how, it releases the fragrance and the 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?