The Tests Of Our Life

Once upon a time, a grand-son complained to his grand-father that his life was miserable and that he didn’t know how he was going to make it.

He was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another cropped up immediately. 

His grand-father took him to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Once the 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 grand-son.

The grand-son, 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 his grand-son, he asked. “Peter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” he hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” He did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked him to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, he observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked him to have a sip of the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to his grand-sons face.

“Grand-pa, what does this mean?” he 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 one are you?” he asked his grand-son.

“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

Moral of the story: 

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it. Life is all about learning, adopting and converting all the struggles that we experience into something positive.