The Window Through Which We Look

 

 A young couple moves into a new neighborhood

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, 

The young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said.
"She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
Nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:
"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows..."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others
Depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
                                                    -Unknown

CHOOSE YOUR PATH...

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

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced 
the same adversity - boiling water - but 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 a 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 
hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you 
elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity? 
~   ~   ~   ~   

Faith is the certainty that God's will is being carried out, 
even when it doesn't look like it.