You'll never look at a cup of coffee the same way again...

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...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 and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes 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 you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma the daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. 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 insides 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 a 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 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 hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. May we all be COFFEE!!!

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This was in my email the other day... about the 5th time I received it over the years. Today it struck me differently. After reading it a second time I knew what it was. It first came to me and was about God and how we're created and how we're to handle life from a biblical perspective. This time, God was taken out of the equation. That's what the world does, they learn that biblical principles work ie: The Secret, and they remove God from it all. Biblical principles do still work without God in them but only for a time. There are certain laws that God created in our world that work with or without Him. To really have the abundant life though, we can not ignore giving all the Glory to God for victory in our lives. We will smile best at the end knowing we lived the fullest life that God wanted us to live and gave Him all the praise for it. Then and only then will we truly know life and life more abundant.

The whole idea of this story is that when we walk into a room, with the Holy Spirit living in us, the living Spirit of Jesus just entered that room. The whole atmosphere SHOULD change. We should not be a thermometer in that room, we should be the thermostat! We have just entered a place where heaven wasn't, before we entered. We just brought Heaven and all it is... the kingdom of Heaven is at hand... into whatever circumstance we find ourselves. The moment we let whatever situation, thing, place, person or circumstance become bigger than God is in us, we've just lost and minimized God. He is bigger, badder and stronger than anything the enemy has to throw at us. ANYTHING!

OK, now to make this official I guess I need to quote scripture on which this thought is based... Acts 10:38 and John 14:12.

Acts 10:38 (New American Standard Bible)

 ³⁸"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

then add this one...

John 14:12 (New International Version)

¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Emphasis mine.

Change the atmosphere everywhere you go today!