A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee.

This may brighten your day, just in case it needs brightening.

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 pot 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 do 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 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 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?

~Count your blessings, not your problems.

-Putting others first makes relationships last.

~There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want
to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!

~When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but often times we look
so long at the closed door that we don’t see the one, which has been opened
for us.

~Don’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth; even that fades
away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to
make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

~Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to
be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you
want to do.

~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.

You might want to send this message to those people who mean
something to you (I JUST DID); to those who have touched your life in one
way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need those who
make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those
whose friendship you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your
life. If you don’t send it, you will just miss out on the opportunity to
brighten someone’s day with this message!!! Don’t count the years – count
the memories…………

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments
that take our breath away!