A potato, an egg, or a Coffee Bean

A Potato, an Egg, or a Coffee Bean
The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “When Allah
loves a people, He afflicts them with trials. Anyone who forbears
patiently, (the reward) for patience is written down for him. And
anyone who becomes impatient, impatience is written down for him
(he keeps on grumbling).” [Musnad Ahmad]
Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was
miserable. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time and
didn’t know how she was going to make it.
Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with
water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to
boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second and ground
coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil. The
daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was
doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners, took the
potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs
out and placed them in a separate bowl. He then ladled the coffee out
and placed it in a cup.
Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes,
eggs and coffee,” she replied. “Look closer,” he said, “and touch the
potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to
take an egg and break it. She observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he
asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and the coffee beans
had each faced the same adversity - the boiling water. However, each
one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and
unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg
was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it
was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.
However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were
exposed to the boiling water they changed the water and created
something new.
“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks
on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a
coffee bean?”
In life, things happen around us and things happen to us, but the only
thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you
make out of it. Can you convert it into something useful for your
Akhirah by exhibiting patience with Allah’s decree? Can your inward
and outward patience make your environment a pleasant place for all?