Are You a Potato or an Egg?

Over a flame, sugar melts but salt hardens. Heat will melt wax but harden clay. Hot water hardens eggs but softens potatoes.

Under the fiery anguish of trial and tribulation, some people are hardened and embittered against the God who allows them to suffer, while in similar situations others are softened into a "thy-will-be-done" loving embrace of his wisdom and providence. Some become "hard-boiled eggs"; others become "baked potatoes."

Most probably at this very moment you are experiencing a cross of some sort - a physical pain, like a backache, or a worry about a loved one, a family or marriage problem, a job insecurity, a false accusation, an overwhwelming temptation, or something else. Ask yourself the incisive quesiton: Are you a potato or an egg? That is, does your hardship "soften" you in a warm and generous love response to God's will in the situation, or does it "harden" you into disappointment, negativity, or perhaps even bitterness?"

It has been said that life is a grindstone that can grind you down or polish you up. Every sickness, problem, pain, hardship, adversity, or tribulation can be used either as a stepping-stone or as a stumbling block. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jer 29:11). Only for those attuned to God's word and his love, every hardship becomes a stepping-stone.

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net