Preached today on "Staying in shape for Service" and taught "Babylon Revisited" in Sunday school. Outlines and AUDIO are available on front page of TLBC website.
HEREA carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee....You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.
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 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, 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 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 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 flavor. 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, egg or a
coffee bean?
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
their way. The brightest future will always be based on a
forgotten past.
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.
