She arrived at her grandmother’s house, eyes full of tears, her spirit heavy. “My husband cheated,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to keep going.”She sank into a chair. “I’m tired of trying, Grandma. Life keeps breaking me.” Without a word, her grandmother filled three pots with water, set them on the stove, and waited for them to boil.
Into each, she placed something different: carrots, eggs, and ground coffee. Still silent. After a while, she turned off the burners and placed each item into a bowl. “Come here,” she said. “Tell me what you see.” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee.” “Touch the carrot,” she said. It was soft. “Now the egg.” She cracked it hard inside. “Taste the coffee.” Warm. Rich. Bold.
“They all faced the same boiling water,” her grandmother said. “But the carrot went in strong and became weak. The egg looked the same but grew hard inside. The coffee? It changed the water itself.” She looked at her granddaughter gently. “So when life gets hard… are you the carrot, the egg, or the coffee bean?”
In that moment, surrounded by quiet love and the scent of coffee, the young woman understood—she didn’t have to break. She could become the brew. And maybe she already was.