# Potatoes, Eggs or Coffee Beans?

- Link: https://dismasfellowshipnetwork.com/reflections/potatoes-eggs-or-coffee-beans/
- Published: 2021-03-02T13:45:41-04:00
- Author: Paul Tuck

[⌊Potatoes, Eggs or Coffee Beans⌉⌊Potatoes, Eggs or Coffee Beans⌉[

Potatoes, Eggs or Coffee Beans

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable
and that she didn’t 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 boiled 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? “
 **Moral:** In life,
things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters
is what happens within us.

**REFLECTION QUESTION…**
 1.  Which one of these do you identify with the most right
now? 1.  OR what touched or impressed you the most about this story?