The other day I was reading a blog that I follow. The fellow is fighting early onset Alzheimer’s and in this latest posting he was sharing his anger.
At God. At everything.
He discussed his feelings with a friend who is a pastor.
Wanted to know why he feels so angry. This is what the pastor told him.
“You have a right to be angry,” he tells me. “It’s okay at times to be angry at God. The book of Psalms is filled with such raw emotion, asking the Lord to ‘rouse thyself.’ We all think God is sleeping at times. ‘Wake up, we say, get on the job!’ The anger is understandable, yet misdirected. God doesn’t impart disease, but the Lord will use illness to bless.”
Some weeks later, this same pastor delivers a sermon to the congregation. Says that they all have a choice when walking through the darkest valley. He said, “Don’t squander the opportunity. Grow through what you go through.”
That’s a difficult thing.
He then shared a parable with the congregation. I had never heard it before this.
A young woman went to her mother. Told her how things were so hard for her. She wanted to give up because she was tired of fighting and struggling. Seemed as one problem was solved another one arose.
The mother brings her into the kitchen. Brings three pots to a boil. Puts carrots in one. An egg in the second pot. Ground coffee beans in the the third pot.
Twenty minutes later the mother takes them out of the pots. Puts the carrots in a bowl. Then places an egg in another bowl. Ladles coffee into the third bowl.
Asks daughter what she sees.
Daughter replies, “Carrots, egg and coffee.”
Mother brings the carrots to her and asks her to feel them. She does and finds that they are soft.
Then the mom asks her to take the egg and break it. The daughter finds a hardboiled egg under the shell.
Mother then asks daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiles as she tastes the rich, aromatic coffee.
“What does it mean, Mother?”
The mother explained that these objects all faced the same adversity: boiling water.
Each reacted differently.
The carrots went in strong, hard and unrelenting. But after being subjected to boiling water the carrots softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting in the boiling water its insides became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
I have friends who are currently facing adversity. In the form of breast cancer, early onset Alzheimer’s, divorce, the loss of a beloved child and the loss of a loving spouse.
All of us face or will face some type of adversity in our lives. Comes in many different forms. Visible and sometimes not so visible.
I suppose we cannot escape these things that are totally beyond our control.
Okay, so what exactly can we do?????????
We can be coffee.
Just Being Mary 