An Egg, A Carrot, and….Coffee Beans???

This is an analogy I read the other day that I thought was really neat, so here it goes: 

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. In the first pot, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and 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 do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to smell and sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she smelled and tasted its rich aroma.

You see the egg, the carrot, and the coffee bean all represent the state of your heart and the boiling water represents trials that you will go through. Which one are you: The Carrot, The Egg, or The Coffee Bean? 

When I read this, I wanted to be the egg. I took it to represent that the exterior shell was the protection against the world’s temptation, but that my heart was still soft and could hear and heed God’s will. 

I was wrong. 

The egg, before the trial, was fragile and had a thin outer shell protecting its liquid. But after sitting through the trial, it came out hardened and it had no more liquid to protect, because it was so hard. The Carrot went into the water hard and unrelenting, but after sitting through the trial it came out soft and weak. The coffee beans, however, were unique. After they had been in the water, they changed the water.

Are you like the egg that went into the water with a soft heart, but after a difficult time in your life and your walk with God, Do you become hardened and stiff? Do you look the same on the outside, but on the inside you aren’t soft like you once were. Are you like the carrot that goes into the water, ready to withstand everything, but after a tragedy do you become weak and give way to the temptations of the world?

or

Are you like the coffee bean that went into the water and came out the same, but the water was changed? Are you the type that goes in with a willing heart and an ear for God’s will? Are you the type that during the heat, you are at your best? That, that is when your true aroma and taste can come out and affect others.

No, I don’t want to be the egg, I want to be a coffee bean. A coffee bean that changes the water and can trust God so entirely that I am at my best when the situation gets tougher. Boy, I have ALOT of work to do.