Sometimes, you can get some great stuff on the
‘Net. A friend sent me this illustration on adversity and the
character it produces:
A daughter complained to her father 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 father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and
placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he
placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the third he placed ground
coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently
waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off
the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He
pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee
out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her he asked, “Darling, what do you
see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
He brought her closer and asked her to feel the
carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked to take an
egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich
aroma.
She humbly asked, “What does it mean, Father?”
He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity,
boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong,
hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to 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 had become hardened. Only the ground coffee beans were
different. After sitting in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” he asked his daughter.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot,
an egg, or a coffee bean?”
How about you? Are you the carrot that
seems hard, but with pain and adversity you seem to wilt, become soft, and lose
your strength? Or are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable
heart? Were you fluid spirit, but after pain such as a death, a divorce, a
demotion, or a downturn in your life, you become hard and stiff? Your
shell looks the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and
heart? Or are you the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing
that is bringing the pain, to its peak flavor as the temperature rises to 212
degrees. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.
If you are like the coffee bean, when things are at their worst, you get better
and make things better around you. When people talk about you, do your
praises to the Lord increase? When the hour is the darkest and trials are
their greatest, does your worship elevate to another level?
Romans 5: 3-4
says, “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. Knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and
proven character, hope.”
How do you handle adversity? Are you the
carrot, the egg, or the coffee bean? What is your character?
