Boiled Eggs and Potatoes

If you take two identical pots of boiling water and place eggs in one and potatoes in the other, both will cook. The circumstances are the same- surrounded by 113+ degree water ( a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen molecules moving extremely fast). However, when all is said and done, the egg has hardened and the potato has softened. What's the difference? I believe the actual quote I read went like this- "The same boiling water that softens potatoes, hardens eggs. It's all about what you are made of, not your circumstances." What you're made of. It's the very composition of the food item in question that determines it's reaction to the circumstance.

And so it goes with us. It's not the situation or the trial, but our character, attitude, and reaction that determines the outcome. Sometimes that is challenging to remember when we feel like boiling water has encompassed us; it is difficult to keep in mind that sometimes the goal is not to stay above water, but to allow the water to change you.

There is an element of choice in any and all circumstances. Recently I watched the movie "If I Stay" with a group of friends and I couldn't help but notice this theme through the entire film. Mia, the main character, faces a lot of choices about love and ultimately about whether to wake up from her coma or let us herself die. I love how the nurse whispers to her, "Here's the secret baby. If you live, if you die, it's all up to you." Now I know there are times and circumstances where things truly are beyond our control, but the choices we can make can help determine, if not the final outcome, then how we well endure and how we influence those around us.

Life is about choices. One of my other favorite quotes from the movies is, " Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you." Choices we make do make us who we are and who we will become. I couldn't post just anything to start off the new year and I thought this was good food for thought to kick it off. I don't know all of what this next year has in store for me, maybe some more boiling water, but I do know who I am striving to become and through it all I am determined to be positive, happy, and humble. Happy 2015!