Adversity
Melody Tregear
I recently read a story that really got me thinking. The story was about a young Varsity student who was complaining to her father about how difficult her life was. She honestly believed that no sooner was one problem solved, than another one arose. In her frustration, she told her dad that she did not know how much longer she could cope.
Her father, a chef, asked her to go with him to the kitchen. Pointing her to a stool, he proceeded to take three saucepans out the cupboard. He filled each with the same amount of water and turned the gas burner to the same high temperature on all three plates. When the water started to boil, he placed a carrot in the first pot, an egg in the second pot, and some ground coffee beans
in the third pot. Then he sat down to wait, still having said nothing.
The daughter in the meantime was becoming increasingly impatient as she waited to see what her father was up to. Repeatedly she sucked in her breath, trying to convey her impatience at having to wait in silence. Her dad simply ignored her.
Twenty minutes later, he switched off the stove and removed the carrot and the egg, placing them each into a small bowl. Then he poured some of the coffee into a nice big mug. Turning to his daughter, he asked her what she saw.
“A carrot, an egg and some coffee,” she replied. Hastening to add, “What does it all mean Dad?” Her father simply smiled at her and asked her to feel the carrot.
“What do you feel?” he asked.
“It’s very soft,” she answered.
He then told her to feel the egg. Quietly she peeled away the shell and observed the egg.
“It’s hard,” she said before he could ask.
Finally he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled as she sipped the rich aromatic liquid, obviously enjoying it.
By now her impatience had dissipated and she again asked her father, humbly this time, what it all meant. What her father told her, she would forever remember…
“The carrot went into the pot hard and unrelenting. But after it endured the hardship of the hot water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, its shell protecting its soft liquid interior, but once it endured the hardship of the hot water, it became hard.
The coffee however, was unique. It changed the water,” he hesitated, then continued, “So which are you? When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you the carrot, who crumbles under pressure, becoming weak and fragile? Or are you the egg, once having a malleable heart, but who becomes hard and bitter when hardships come your way? Or, are you the coffee beans –influencing the situation for the better, instead of being influenced negatively?”
As I said, I found this story rather thought-provoking; because life has a way of throwing things at us when we least expect it. The good news is that nothing catches our Heavenly Father unawares. He is always aware of what is going on in your life [even if you don’t think so], and He is always in control. What a comforting thought!
Father God has promised us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. At first glance that may seem like the same thing – leave and forsake – but it’s not. The Oxford dictionary describes ‘leave’ as, “to go away from, to depart without taking”. ‘Forsake’ is described as, “give up,
renounce, desert, abandon”. The reality is that Father will not go away from you, depart anywhere without taking you with Him, give up
on you, renounce you, desert you or abandon you! Wow! No wonder Psalm 139:7 asks, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” And then answers, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me”, even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You…” [Verses
8-12].
My friend, whatever you may be going through at this moment, may you be encouraged in the knowledge that you are not alone. Father is with you every step of the way. And I pray that God will give both of us the grace to be ‘coffee beans’ – to His honour and glory. +
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.”
[Scriptures taken from the New Living Translation & the New King James Version.]
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I recently read a story that really got me thinking. The story was about a young Varsity student who was complaining to her father about how difficult her life was. She honestly believed that no sooner was one problem solved, than another one arose. In her frustration, she told her dad that she did not know how much longer she could cope.
Her father, a chef, asked her to go with him to the kitchen. Pointing her to a stool, he proceeded to take three saucepans out the cupboard. He filled each with the same amount of water and turned the gas burner to the same high temperature on all three plates. When the water started to boil, he placed a carrot in the first pot, an egg in the second pot, and some ground coffee beans
in the third pot. Then he sat down to wait, still having said nothing.
The daughter in the meantime was becoming increasingly impatient as she waited to see what her father was up to. Repeatedly she sucked in her breath, trying to convey her impatience at having to wait in silence. Her dad simply ignored her.
Twenty minutes later, he switched off the stove and removed the carrot and the egg, placing them each into a small bowl. Then he poured some of the coffee into a nice big mug. Turning to his daughter, he asked her what she saw.
“A carrot, an egg and some coffee,” she replied. Hastening to add, “What does it all mean Dad?” Her father simply smiled at her and asked her to feel the carrot.
“What do you feel?” he asked.
“It’s very soft,” she answered.
He then told her to feel the egg. Quietly she peeled away the shell and observed the egg.
“It’s hard,” she said before he could ask.
Finally he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled as she sipped the rich aromatic liquid, obviously enjoying it.
By now her impatience had dissipated and she again asked her father, humbly this time, what it all meant. What her father told her, she would forever remember…
“The carrot went into the pot hard and unrelenting. But after it endured the hardship of the hot water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, its shell protecting its soft liquid interior, but once it endured the hardship of the hot water, it became hard.
The coffee however, was unique. It changed the water,” he hesitated, then continued, “So which are you? When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you the carrot, who crumbles under pressure, becoming weak and fragile? Or are you the egg, once having a malleable heart, but who becomes hard and bitter when hardships come your way? Or, are you the coffee beans –influencing the situation for the better, instead of being influenced negatively?”
As I said, I found this story rather thought-provoking; because life has a way of throwing things at us when we least expect it. The good news is that nothing catches our Heavenly Father unawares. He is always aware of what is going on in your life [even if you don’t think so], and He is always in control. What a comforting thought!
Father God has promised us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. At first glance that may seem like the same thing – leave and forsake – but it’s not. The Oxford dictionary describes ‘leave’ as, “to go away from, to depart without taking”. ‘Forsake’ is described as, “give up,
renounce, desert, abandon”. The reality is that Father will not go away from you, depart anywhere without taking you with Him, give up
on you, renounce you, desert you or abandon you! Wow! No wonder Psalm 139:7 asks, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” And then answers, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me”, even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You…” [Verses
8-12].
My friend, whatever you may be going through at this moment, may you be encouraged in the knowledge that you are not alone. Father is with you every step of the way. And I pray that God will give both of us the grace to be ‘coffee beans’ – to His honour and glory. +
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.”
[Scriptures taken from the New Living Translation & the New King James Version.]
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