Episode 16: are you a potato, an egg or coffee: influence over adaptation 

Potato, egg or coffee: influence over adaptation

Today we are going to talk about a new way to view our problems and difficult circumstances. And I’m going to give you a word picture to help you better understand this concept. 

Because friends When we have challenges and hardships we want to take those lessons that we’re learning and we want to take it a step farther, so we can influence those around us for good. So we can help bring others UP with our positivity and not drag them down with our negativity. 

We don’t want to just adapt to the energy in the room, we want to INFLUENCE the energy in the room. We want to be a light to those around us. 

I want to give you a visual for what I’m talking about. 

I’m sure we’ve all heard it said before that the same boiling water makes a potato soft and an egg hard right?? But did you know there is actually a third way to look at it- there’s another option all together on the table. And this is the one we want to be! 

So I’m going to share a quick story. A son came to his mom and was complaining that it seemed like he was going through one hardship after another. He was wondering when he would catch a break. The mom brought him into the kitchen. She Filled three pots with water and turned the burners on high. They all started to boil and she put potatoes in one pot, eggs in another pot and ground coffee beans in the last pot. 

And they sat there in silence and watched it boil. And after some time she took out the potatoes, and the eggs, and ladled the coffee into a cup. 

She told her son to take a Look closer look – touch the potatoes, touch the eggs, smell and sip the coffee 

What do you see what do you feel, so they talked about it 

• Potato was soft and fell apart. 
• Egg was hard 
• And the coffee was delightful 

Each one of these objects reacted differently to the hot water.

Potatoes went in strong and hard but came out soft and weak 

The eggs went in fragile with a thin outer shell, but when it came out of the boiling water it was hard. 

However the coffee beans were unique! After they were exposed to the boiling water they changed the WATER and created something NEW!!! 

When you have problems, and listen, some of you have some really difficult situations that you’re going through. I am not undermining what you might be experiencing right now. 

But you have to be so careful that you don’t develop a throw in the towel attitude because of your problems . Telling yourself that It’s not going to make a difference how you react so why even bother trying to be positive. 

You have to be careful that your problems don’t make you Hard and harsh with a bitter attitude. How many of you have become cynical after a difficult situation? I know I have. 

Instead you want to be like the coffee beans. Let us change and influence the world around us because of what we have learned!!!!

Don’t allow your circumstances to make you negative and bitter. Instead allow it be the catalyst to transform you into something delightful not only for you but those around you as well. 

So ask yourself Are you a potato, egg or coffee beans?? 

We can’t stop the water from boiling, 

Friends there will always be difficult situations that come into our life, but the only thing you can control is how you respond to it. 

If you can grab hold of this concept that no matter what is going on around you, that you can still claim joy, that you can still live an extraordinarily normal life simply because you chose to! 

Instead letting that difficult situation make you soft and fall apart like the potato

Instead of letting that difficult situation make you hard like the egg 

Instead you can flip the whole script and change the whole atmosphere and you can influence the world around you and turn the water into the best tasting cup of coffee ever! 

Remember Don’t adapt to the energy in the room. Influence the energy in the room.

Do not succumb to what is going on around you. Do not let it defeat you. Claim victory over that circumstance and change that water into coffee. 

Friends this is how we are a light to the world. Think about Paul and all the tragic things that he went through in his life. But he wasn’t complaining, he was rejoicing in the Lord, he had a grateful heart and focused his mind on things above, things that were true, and lovely and right. He impacted thousands and still continues to impact thousands of lives because he chose to influence the world around him with positivity, he chose to make coffee out of the hot water. He chose to be grateful, to rejoice always. He was one the greatest mindset coaches before that ever even a thing. Study his life, read through Philippians. I’ve been going through Philippians as I go through the book Get out of your Head. And there are so many nuggets of wisdom in there to grab hold of and really just watch the way Paul carried himself and didn’t allow his circumstances to overtake him. 

As a society we tend to view the difficult situations as a bad thing- we view the boiling water as a bad thing. But Without the boiling water we couldn’t have the coffee. 

Without the refining fire, we couldn’t be all that we were meant to be, because there are certain lessons in those tough seasons that we need to learn. That we will be better and stronger because we went through. It’s not that it’s pleasant. But sometimes we have to be broken to shine. 

But what happens is we become negative when those hard times come. And we dwell on the things that we can’t change. And we are exhausted because we are spending all our thoughts and energy complaining and focusing on the things that can’t changed. Instead we need to bring our problems to Lord, lay it down before him and don’t pick it back up. Focus on the solutions not the problems. Seek out the lessons that can be learned and then transform the water into something brand new, instead of allowing the hot water to transform us into something we don’t want to become. 

It’s all about perspective. It’s why two people can go through the exact same situations and have completely different stories because of the way that they chose to SEE it!

Friends how are you choosing to see the trials in your life. Are you choosing to see the bad, and focus on the negative.

Or are you choosing to grow, are you choosing to see the positive. Are you choosing to look for the good that’s there. 

And then when you do that are you keeping it to yourself or are you using that to shine and influence the world around you. And share the lessons you’ve been learning. 

Friends you don’t have to have a podcast to influence people. You don’t have to have a huge platform to influence people. Share what you’re learning with those around you. 

Don’t keep quiet, don’t tell yourself the lie that you don’t have anything of value to share with others. Friends the positivity will be radiating from you- the aroma of the sweet smelling coffee will be there, don’t put a lid on it because you’re insecure. You have a story to share with others. 

And whether we believe it or not, We all have influence – especially us mama’s. We have a big influence over our family’s so what are we teaching them? 

Are we teaching them to focus on the negative? Are we teaching them that difficult situations will change us for the worse not the better? Are we teaching them that we have no control over our attitudes? 

Or are we teaching them that we have the power to flip the script and rewrite the story. What the enemy meant for evil, God meant it for good!!! And we claim victory in Christ! 

Let me ask you again.. Are you the potato, the egg or the coffee?? 

I want to encourage you this week to go out and be the coffee!!