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Page 34 |
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends
of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a
crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a
full portion of water.
At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the
cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went
on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of
water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments
but
the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and
miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to
do.
After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke
to the woman one day by the stream: "Old Woman, I am ashamed
of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out
all the way back to your house." The woman smiled and
replied, "Cracked Pot, did you notice that there are flowers
on your side of the path, but not on Perfect Pot's side? I have
always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your
side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water
them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful
flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you
are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw(s) but it's the cracks and
flaws we each have that make our lives together so very
interesting and rewarding.
You just have to take each person for what they are and look for
the good in them.
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Carrot, Egg and Coffee......
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 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?
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.
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