Illustration: Are You a Carrot an Egg or a Coffee Bean?

[Tirshatha]

Are you a Carrot, an Egg, or a Coffee Bean?

July 31, 2010 at 3:46pm

 

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Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean? 
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 that just 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 the last 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 her 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 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 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 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 a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff 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 reach its peak flavor heat 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 a coffee bean? 

 

[GStorrs46]

Tirshatha,

 

   An interesting illustration. I have gone through a lot of adversity in my life. And honestly at first I was like the

carrot and the egg. But gradually ( and I say gradually ), I am learning, through Jehovah's help to become like

the coffee bean. And I have come to believe that is part of the reason Jehovah permits us to go through such

trials. So that in the end, we will come out like the coffee been, although it may be a difficult transformation in

the process.

                                                                                                                                                        GStorrs46

[Tirshatha]

Tirshatha,

 

   An interesting illustration. I have gone through a lot of adversity in my life. And honestly at first I was like the

carrot and the egg. But gradually ( and I say gradually ), I am learning, through Jehovah's help to become like

the coffee bean. And I have come to believe that is part of the reason Jehovah permits us to go through such

trials. So that in the end, we will come out like the coffee been, although it may be a difficult transformation in

the process.

                                                                                                                                                        GStorrs46

Well said my brother. Agape'

[perspective]

I love illustrations because they can be taken so many ways. The coffee bean actually went through more adversity, as it had to be ground first. So that could make the bean look even better with the final result. Then again, you could say that after adversity the coffee bean dissolved and was no longer recognizable, while you could at least still make out which one was a carrot and which was an egg. Maybe the bean was overtaken to the point of losing its identity.

I think I choose to look at it this way. Each went through adversity and each came out acceptably. People love coffee, soft cooked carrots, and hard boiled eggs. We all go through things and react different based on our makeup, and Jehovah can accept us soft, hard boiled, or with a great aroma. Either way we came through adversity, and that's what counts the most. Even Jesus had to be ministered to by angels after temptation because it no doubt weakened him somewhat.

Thanks for the illustration. I love thinking about how those things can be taken. So many variations and ways to make points. Very cool.

[Roberto Flores]

Thanks for the illustration, where do you get it?

[Tirshatha]

Thanks for the illustration, where do you get it?

Just one that was sent to me a long time ago.

[Roberto Flores]

Appreciate a lot this type of illustrations, thanks for your posts

[Tirshatha]

Very welcome my brother.