Carrot, Egg or Coffee Beans.....Which Are You?

I found the following excerpt in a book that I am reading. After reading it, I could do nothing but think. Christians go through so much because Satan is constantly trying to trick us, lie to us and pull us away from the Lord. He puts stumbling blocks in our way, not just any kind you understand because he is a master and when we face adversity, he watches us closely to see what gets us down and how we deal with it. When he discovers our weaknesses; he’s got us! So in all of his craftiness, he begins a relentless pursuit of trying to counteract our pain with false hope and short-lived joy until he has us hooked in his web of lies and deceit. Yes, Satan will tempt us with security in things or people that we desire in this life. But it is only short-lived, it is a cyclical whirlwind and when the dust stops blowing, you are back where you started at. HERE IS THE STORY OF THE CARROT, EGG AND COFFEE BEANS……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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 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 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 were soft and mushy. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardened egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee.

 

The daughter smiled as she tasted its deep flavor and inhaled its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, 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. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it 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 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 a hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water - the very circumstance that brings the adversity, the pain, the hardship – into something quite wonderful. When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better, and change the situation around you for the better.

 

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?

 

Are you the carrot, egg or coffee bean? Somehow, wake up and smell the coffee takes on a whole new meaning.

                   -Author Unknown

 As we go through adversity, and as Christians we will, even more so as Christian women. We will be tried, tested, tempted, pulled, pushed, pried, laughed at, talked about, snubbed and judged. How will these trials and tribulations change us? Will we retreat into ourselves, becoming cold, distant and uncaring? Will we allow the pain to defeat us; drag us down, push aside or send us running from the Lord to the world? Or, will we be conquerors! (Romans 8:35-37)(Ephesians 6:10-12)