What are you made of?

A young woman went to see her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard on her. She didn’t know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling, it seemed that as one problem was solved a new one took its place.

Her mother took her into the kitchen and then filled three pots with water. In the first she placed a carrot, in the second she placed an egg and in the third she placed some ground coffee beans. She lit the stove and set them to boil without saying a word.

Twenty minutes later she fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the egg out and placed it in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning then to her daughter, she asked, “What do you see?” “Carrots, egg and coffee,” the young woman replied.

Mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. When she did she noted that they were soft and fell apart easily. Mother then asked her to take the egg and break the shell; she did and found a hardened interior. Finally mother asked her to sip the coffee, the daughter smiled as she drank it and tasted its richness.

“So what’s your point mother?” the woman asked. Her mother went on to explain that each of these objects had faced the same adversity, the boiling water, but had each reacted differently. The carrot went in hard, strong and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting the liquid inside. After sitting in the boiling water though it became hardened. The coffee beans were unique though, after they had been in the water they changed the water.

“Which are you?” the mother asked. “When adversity knocks at your door how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee bean?”

I think that’s a good question for each of us to ask ourselves.

Am I like the carrot that is so strong and unrelenting only to go soft and fall apart when I am faced with difficulties?

Or am I like the egg which looks the same on the outside but due to difficulties in my life have I become bitter with a tough spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee beans that when thrust into the midst of adversity actually use the circumstances around me to rise above and with the Lord doing it I find the solutions I need to change things around me positively?

What are you made of??