A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee

This is a beautiful story I received in my mail lately… It’s a forward message that I think should be shared to everyone! Feel free to reblog this… and enjoy reading! 🙂

GOOD ANALOGY. What are we?? 🙂

A 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 insides
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 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, an 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 best 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.

You might want to send this message to those people who mean something to you
(I JUST DID); to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to
those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the
brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendship you
appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life.

If you don’t (re)send it, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten
someone’s day with this message!

May we all be COFFEE!!!!!! !!