When The Going Gets Tough...

This Keeps You Going!

The older I  get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the  unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first  few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A  few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about  it.

I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a  Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a  golden voice. You know the kind ~ he sounded like he should be in  the broadcasting business himself. He was talking about "a  thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom".

I was intrigued and  sat down to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure  sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but  it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard  to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's  dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something  Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own  priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a  "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a  little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I  know - some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live  about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52  weeks and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that  the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom,  I'm getting to the important part. It
took me until I was fifty-five  years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by  that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred  Saturdays. I  got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about  a thousand of them left to enjoy."

"So I went to a toy store and  bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three  toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them  inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop  next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble  out and thrown it away."

"I found that by watching the marbles  diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There  is nothing like really watching your time here on this earth run  out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell  you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife  out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the  container. So, I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have  been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use and we  all want is a little more time."

"It was nice to talk to you  Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to  meet you again someday. Have a good morning!"

You could have  heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show's moderator didn't  have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a  lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a  kiss.

"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."  "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special,  it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the  kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy  some marbles."

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him.  When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" diameter.  He then asked the students if the jar was full.  They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them  into  the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled  into  the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed.  He asked his students again if the jar was full.  They agreed that yes, it was.  The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is  your life.  The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.  The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car.  The sand is everything else. The
small stuff.

If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life.  If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important.

Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
Take care of the rocks first! - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand."

One night there was a woman at the airport who had to wait for several hours before catching her next flight. While she waited she bought a book and a pack of biscuits to spend the time.

She looked for a place to sit and waited. She was deep into her book, when suddenly she realized that there was a young man sitting next to her who was stretching his hand, with no concern whatsoever, and grabbing the pack of cookies lying between them.

He started to eat them one by one. Not wanting to make a fuss about it she decided to ignore him. The woman, slightly bothered, ate the cookies and watched the clock, while the young and shameless thief of biscuits was also finishing  them.

The  woman started to get really angry at this point and thought "If I wasn't such a good and educated person, I would have given this daring man a black eye by now."

Every time she ate a biscuit, he had one too. The dialogue between their eyes continued and when only one biscuit was left, she wondered what he was going to do. Softly and with a nervous smile, the young man grabbed the last biscuit and broke it in two. He offered one half to the woman while he ate the other half. Briskly she took the biscuit and thought, "What an insolent man! How uneducated! He didn't even thank me!"

She had never met anybody so fresh and sighed relived to hear her flight announced. She grabbed bags and went towards the boarding gate refusing to look to where that insolent thief was seated.

After the boarding the plane and nicely seated, she looked for her book which was nearly finished by now. While looking into her bag, she was totally surprised to find her pack of biscuits nearly intact. If my biscuits are here, she thought feeling terribly, those others were his and he tried to share them with me.

Too late to apologize to the young man, she realized with pain, that it was her who had been insolent, uneducated and a thief, and not him.

How many times in our lives, had we known with certainty that something happened in a certain way, only to discover later that it wasn't true?

How many times has our lack of trust within us made us judge other people unfairly with our conceited ideas, often far away from reality.

That is why we have to think twice before we judge others. Lets always give others the benefit of the doubt before we think badly of them.

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.

"Oh Yeah, " said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

"We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end."

"We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night."

"Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon."

"We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight."

"We have servants who serve us, but they serve others."

"We buy our food, but they grow theirs."

"We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, dad, for showing me how poor we are."

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck.  One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.  For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made.  But the poor cracked pot was shamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 yrs of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.  "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.  I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.  Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?  That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them.  For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.  Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Moral:
Each of us has our own unique flaws.  We're all cracked pots, but it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.  You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.  Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.  Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life!

Should you find it hard to get to sleep tonight;
Just remember the homeless family who has no bed to lie in.

Should you find yourself stuck in traffic; don't despair.
There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work;
Think of the man who has been out of work for the last three months.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad;
Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend;
Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for $15.00 to feed her family.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance;
Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror;
Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering; what is life all about, what is my purpose?
Be thankful, there are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities;
Remember, things could be worse. You could be them!