Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she did not know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see? ”“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied. “Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” 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. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face. “Father, what does this mean?” she asked. He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new. “Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “By: 4 Recruitment Services, www.godsoother ways .com
I thought this would be a nice story for the New Year. We all need to look forward to the New Year with hope and positivity. We can learn from last year, hopefully, and know that this year can be better, brighter, and more than we could imagine. We need to look beyond ourselves. How can we help those around us? How can we become better than we were or better than we are. How can we pass on love, laughter, and joy to people all around us? I remember this quote from: Maya Angelou “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. This new year let’s try to change how we see others and how we feel about our interactions with everyone we meet. In a small moment we have the chance to change someone’s day, someone’s life. In the process we change who we are and how we act. So, I am going to ask you, as life happens around us in this NEW YEAR, as things happen to us, like the three pots of boiling water, the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us. Which pot of boiling water are you, the potato, the egg, or the coffee beans?
Best wishes for the New Year.
Rev. Walter Coy
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