Carrots, Eggs or Coffee Beans?

                           Which are you?

What kind of artist are you?  A young artist went to her mentor 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. 

Her mentor took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water.  In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placd 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 the young artist, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?".  "Carrots, eggs and coffee", the artist replied.

Her mentor brought her closer, and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft and mushy  Her mentor then asked her to take an egg and break it.  After pulling off the shell, the artist observed the hardened egg. Finally, the daughter was asked to sip the coffee.

The young artist smiled as she tasted its deep flavor and inhaled its rich aroma.  The artist then asked, "What's the point?"

Her mentor explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity-boiling water-but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it 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 young artist friend.  "When adveristy knocks on your door, how do you respond?  Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

If you are the coffee bean that actually changes the hot water-the very circumstance that brings the adversity, the pain, the hardship-into something quite wonderful.  When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor.  If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better, and change the situation around you for the better. 

Be that artist that changes the world!