think about this

I got this from an email and it really hit home. and made me think about my own life and how I have reacted. and have taken stock and am still working on it. I am not perfect so bare with me. love you all and I hope that you enjoy and think about the following:
A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so
hard for her. She did not 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 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 and turned off the burners. He fished the
carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them
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 its peak flavor reaches 212 degrees
Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and
make things better around you. When people talk about you, do your praises
to the Lord increase? When the hour is the darkest and trials are their
greatest, does your worship elevate to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

II Corinthians 4:8-9 - We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we
are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down,
but not destroyed.