His father, a chef, took him 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 the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

The son sucked his 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 a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to him he asked. "What do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," he replied.

He brought him closer and asked him to feel the carrots. He did and noted that they were soft. He then asked him to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, he observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked him to sip the coffee. He smiled as he tasted its rich aroma.

He 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 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?" he asked his son. "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 do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength?

Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after something adversity happens, have you become hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain, to its peak flavor reaches 212 degrees
Fahrenheit. 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.

How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg, or coffee?