I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
A young woman went to her mother and told her 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. In the
first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and 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.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted
that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After
pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her
to sip the coffee. The daughter 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—but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong,
hard and unrelenting. 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 that seems strong, but with pain and
adversity, do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Or are you an egg
that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Do you have a
fluid spirit, but after a loved-one’s death, a relationship breakup, a financial
hardship or some other trial, have you become hardened and stiff? Does your
shell look the same, but on the inside you are bitter and tough with a stiff
spirit and a hardened heart? Or are you like a 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 I am like the bean,
when things are at their worst, I get better and change the situation around me
through Christ-likeness.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to
another level? How do you handle adversity?
RESPONSE: Christians are like carrots, eggs or coffee beans. They don’t
know how strong their response is until they get into hot water. Which are
you?
PRAYER: Lord, help me realize that every experience You gives me, every
person You put in my path, is the perfect preparation only You can see.