There is no author noted for this analogy, but its truth is so profound that it needs to be shared. I have written many blogs on trials, but you can never hear this truth too many times.
The story goes: A young woman went to her grandmother 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 grandmother 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 granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me what do 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 got 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 granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. “What’s the point, grandmother?”
Her grandmother 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. 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 granddaughter.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
~ Author Unknown
So, during these trying days, which are you?
Are you the carrot that looks solid and strong? Yet life happens. Your world is turned upside down so You wilt, become soft and lose all your strength?
Or, maybe you are like the egg. Your shell is perfect in shape and color. Your heart is soft and fluid. But, then the heat turns up. Circumstances begin to boil all around you. What happens after a death, a betrayal. You lose your and financial security, even your home? What happens when suddenly the water is too hot? Do you become cracked on the outside and hardened inside? Do you smell like the sulfur in an overcooked egg?
As a Christian should you not be more like the coffee bean? The hot water still boils, but the circumstances do not change you. You change the water with a deep beautiful color and aroma. People are drawn near to you because of your boldness. When things get worst you get better and change all around you.
These are hard times. Maybe you have been through worse. Maybe you will go through worse. The darkest hours are just before the dawn.
Psalm 46:5
Renee’ Green Copyright 2016
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Lights in the Storm 