SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH DEVOTIONAL FOR CHILDREN: “Which Are You: A Potato, An Egg Or A Coffee Bean?”

*DAILY BREAD- A DEVOTIONAL FOR THE CHILDREN*

EASTERN NIGERIA UNION CONFERENCE CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES

*THEME: I WILL GO*

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Topic: Which are you: A potato, an egg or a coffee bean?

_And we also have joy with our troubles because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. God gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.. Romans 5:3-5_

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable, full of problems and pressures and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

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 pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a 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 hastily 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. After pulling off the shell, 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 coffee beans had each faced the same adversity, problem or pressure – 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.

Life will always have problems and pressures, like the boiling water in the story. But how do you respond when trouble knocks on your door? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us. It’s how you respond and react to these problems that counts the most!

Many children like us in the Bible – Joseph, Daniel, the little Naaman’s maid to name a few all had troubles too. God knows what he’s doing in our lives, even if we don’t. He is working quietly, taking the worst situations and turning them into good.

*Song*

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

*Prayer*
Dear Lord, help me to rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulations. That rather than becoming boiled down to a soft mush, or hard boiled into someone uncaring, help me to be patient and allow you fully work out your purpose through me that you transform the problem into something as deliciously aromatic as freshly brewed coffee, something new and powerful enough to me better child of yours and richer in faith. Amen.