In Hot Water
I am here in Germany attending 2 days of international women's conference before the actual 'forum' begins on Sunday...
Last night the speaker gave a very interesting object lesson/analogy which I will definitely implement into some of my speaking engagements in the future.
Perhaps you've heard it, but I thought it was nicely profound and yet simple, understandable by most people in all cultures. It goes a little something like this:
What happens to an egg when you boil it? It becomes hard.
What happens to a potato when you boil it? It becomes soft.
Both the egg and the potato were subjected to hot, boiling water... and yet they reacted completely differently. Thus, when we are subjected to 'boiling water' in our lives -- difficult circumstances, dealing with people who hurt us or irritate us, or severe trials due to war, death, illness, etc., we have a choice how we can react. We can become hard and bitter and negative.... like the egg, and refuse all help from all people. We can make the bad situations worse by reacting negatively.
But! We also have the very real choice to respond to difficult circumstances in our lives by becoming 'soft' -- flexible, moldable, penetrable... willing to let God and other people into our lives to hold us in their hands and help us in our greatest time of need.
The choice is ours. The options are all there. Now we just have to choose.
Thank you Elke Werner for this challenging word picture and lesson!
~lk
Last night the speaker gave a very interesting object lesson/analogy which I will definitely implement into some of my speaking engagements in the future.
Perhaps you've heard it, but I thought it was nicely profound and yet simple, understandable by most people in all cultures. It goes a little something like this:
What happens to an egg when you boil it? It becomes hard.
What happens to a potato when you boil it? It becomes soft.
Both the egg and the potato were subjected to hot, boiling water... and yet they reacted completely differently. Thus, when we are subjected to 'boiling water' in our lives -- difficult circumstances, dealing with people who hurt us or irritate us, or severe trials due to war, death, illness, etc., we have a choice how we can react. We can become hard and bitter and negative.... like the egg, and refuse all help from all people. We can make the bad situations worse by reacting negatively.
But! We also have the very real choice to respond to difficult circumstances in our lives by becoming 'soft' -- flexible, moldable, penetrable... willing to let God and other people into our lives to hold us in their hands and help us in our greatest time of need.
The choice is ours. The options are all there. Now we just have to choose.
Thank you Elke Werner for this challenging word picture and lesson!
~lk
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