So many times we get caught up in our own dilemmas and drama that we forget that many of our own truths that we subscribe to are based on our point of view; our perspective.

Carrot, Egg, or Coffee?

I never really understood what “carrot, egg, or coffee” meant until I thought about it deeply. It sounds simple, almost like a riddle—but it holds one of life’s most profound lessons.

The story goes like this: if you place a carrot, an egg, and coffee beans into boiling water, each responds differently to the same heat. The carrot, firm and strong before, softens and becomes weak. The egg, fragile on the outside, hardens within and grows tough. But the coffee bean is different—it doesn’t just change itself; it transforms the water, releasing its fragrance and reshaping the very environment it is in.

This is more than a kitchen experiment—it is life itself. The boiling water is hardship, the kind that tests us when we least expect it. The carrot represents those who lose their strength under pressure, collapsing into what life throws at them. The egg represents those who build walls and grow bitter, allowing hardship to harden their hearts. But the coffee? The coffee is rare. It shows us that it’s possible not only to endure the heat but to use it as a stage for transformation—turning pain into purpose, bitterness into beauty, and trial into testimony.

We don’t get to choose our boiling water. The struggles, the losses, the disappointments—they come without asking our permission. But what we do get to choose is what we become inside of it. Will we grow weak, will we grow hard, or will we release something greater than what was put into us?

You are like the carrot: If you start strong but become weak and disheartened by hardship.

You are like the egg: If you begin with a soft spirit but become hardened and unyielding in response to difficulties.

You are like the coffee beans: If you use adversity to elevate yourself, change your surroundings, and bring out your best qualities and potential.

In the end, life’s question is simple but piercing: when the heat rises, will you be the carrot, the egg, or the coffee?