Are You a Coffee Bean?

Luke 9:23 (New International Version)
23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Hebrews 10:19-25 (New International Version)
19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

A daughter complained to her father 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 father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled 3 pots with water and placed each one 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 20 minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in 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 asked her then to take an egg and break it. After pulling the shell off she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally he asked her to sip the coffee and she smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. She humbly asked, "What does it mean father?"

He explained that each of them faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each had 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 and 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 death, a break up, 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 100 degrees celcius(212 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.

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a Coffee bean?

How we face adversity of the cross is equally important as to the act of bearing the cross.

Neo - May 31, 2009(originally written on April 14, 2004)