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. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. 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.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.
The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she 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 .. 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 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 become soft 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 break-up, 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 hardened heart?
Or am I like the 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 flavour.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
Count your blessings, not your problems......
Putting others first makes relationships last When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one, which has been opened for us.
Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.
Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. Don't count the years-count the memories...........
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments that take our breath away!
I think I am the coffee bean, in the last month my dad has been rushed into hospital after suffering another heart attack, thankfully he is back home, the day he was rushed in my mum, sister and myself stayed by his bed till he was stable and the doctors told us to go home and get some rest. When we left him to go back to the car it was late evening and we passed a cooking apple tree that was in the hospital grounds laden down with apples no one was picking, my sister not one to pass up an opportunity decided we should not let them go to waste so…. picture this
my sister up a grass bank jumping up and down knocking the tree branches, apples rolling down the bank onto the road being chased by my mum and me and put into a plastic carry bag that mum always seems to have in her handbag for emergencies!!
At one stage I just stood and watched and broke into hysterical laughter which then started my mum and sister off laughing… maybe it was relief that dad was going to be OK or the fact it was a farcical situation… On the way back home there was more laughter and some tears, its how our family copes. Oh the apples made some wonderful pies made by my Dads fair hands a couple of weeks later when he was home and they tasted fantastic.
Then to cap it all last week while out with my mum a car smashed into the back of my car. The other party was fine but his car is a right off and it looks like the police are charging him, my car is in the garage undergoing repair. Mum and I suffered whiplash and back injuries which are going to take time to heal. Although this time there were a few more tears I did manage to make the police officer and paramedic laugh. And I would like to say is our police force, ambulance and recovery services were wonderful and I have the up most respect for what they have to put up with and do. And I am still smiling and more importantly so is the rest of the family.
and a Father Christmas which you throw at a wall or door and watch it crawl down great fun if not slightly creepy.
