A Story To Show You How To Be Content In Hard Times

A koan about boiled carrots, eggs, and coffee from grandma the Zen master

Photo by MD Duran on Unsplash

Every once in a while I come across something extraordinary on Facebook. Something beyond smiley faces, whining conspiracy theorists, and pictures of what someone had for lunch. Today I came across a story posted by Charlie Barkin of a piece by Yehuda Lave

Here is the story.

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 and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. 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…