"Are You A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Coffee"
(Author Unknown)
3-10-2009 Church Within SOW Seeds Service - Story #580
******************************************************
Please Freely Share any of our Church Within Services with Any and All whom you feel might Appreciate them. If you have received this Service from a friend and would like to subscribe to our Weekly On-Line Services, send an e-mail with your request to: seewithin@churchwithin.org Thank You! ...and Please Visit our Church Within Web-Site at http://www.churchwithin.org
Visit our SOW Seeds Archives at the Church Within Web-Site! http://www.churchwithin.org/sowarchive.html
Welcome
**********
Greetings my Dearest Sisters and Brothers, and welcome again to Church Within's Story of the Week ["SOW Seeds”].
This week's SOW Seeds Story, contributed by: Bill Laurin
*******************************************
Story of the Week
*****************
“Are You A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Coffee Bean?”
(Author Unknown)
You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.
A young woman went to her mother 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. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen.
She filled three pots with water.
In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans.
She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minuets 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 her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled , as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked. "What's the point, mother?"
Her mother 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 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?" she asked her daughter. " When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot , an egg, or a coffee bean?"
Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after death , a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle Adversity?
Are You A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Coffee Bean?
*******************************************
Pastor's Quote of the Week
************************
[This weeks quote is one that has personally Motivated and Encouraged me time and again for more than half of my 56 years of life…]
(From: The Urantia Book - Paper-100 Section-2)
Jesus portrayed the profound surety of the God-knowing mortal when he said: "To a God-knowing kingdom believer, what does it matter if all things earthly crash?" Temporal securities are vulnerable, but spiritual sureties are impregnable. When the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable; at least this is true of every human being who has dedicated the keeping of his soul to the indwelling spirit of the eternal God.
*******************************************
The Prayer
***********
Dear God,
You are my Assurance and Encouragement through All material Adversity!
You ALL are Within the Infinitely Loving Embrace of our Universal Parent,
The Creator's Eternal Love to all of You,
Pastor Daniel
Previous Story
Next Story
Back to the Story of the Week Archive Page
Back to the Story of the Week Main Page
Back to the Church Within Home Page