How do you react to adversity? Here's a great little story that deserves retelling. I promise that it is worth the few minutes it will take to read it through.
A young man went to his mother and told her about his life and how things were so hard for him. He didn't not know how he was going to make it and wanted to give up,.
His mother took him to the kitchen and 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 son, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' he replied.
His mother asked him to feel the carrots. he did and noted that they were soft.The mother then asked the son to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, he observed the hard boiled egg.
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Finally, the mother asked the son to sip the coffee. The son smiled as he tasted its rich aroma.
The son then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'
His 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 son. '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?
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 make everyone around you smile.
May we all be COFFEE!!!!!
Janna Rankin Scharf provides a superior level of real estate services to home buyers and sellers in Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County, Idaho. Visit www.JannaScharf.com to search for homes in the Coeur d'Alene MLS for anywhere in spectacular North Idaho.
No matter how grand or modest your real estate dreams may be, you can turn to me in confidence. Give me a call today and let me know what I can do to be of service to you!
Janna Rankin Scharf AB, GRI, CSP, CNS, CLHMS 208.651.9700








Hi Janna, I didn't see this the first time around, it is great! I would hope to be the coffee, that's for sure!
That is great - I SO want to be coffee all the time!
Janna, I love this story and I would choose to be that coffee and make a difference in the world!