Posted on 11/29/2018 1:54:56 PM PST by Carriage Hill
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar...and the beer...
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. 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 rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, " I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things- your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff.
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal."
Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple beers with a friend."
I once focused only on the big important things in life and skipped the small stuff and lost my job as a result.
Bkmrk.
Ouch!!! Perhaps the job should be a golf ball and not just a pebble.
But you still have your balls?
Letting the details fall thru the cracks caused me problems, too, but as the years go by, with fewer major important things to concern myself with, I can manage all of it, now.
What?! Beer is part of the small unimportant stuff??? Is he kidding me?
No, beer is what fills life. When there seems no room for anything else there is always room for a beer with a friend.
Always give bad advice. Most people won’t follow it anyway. And if they do, they deserve everything they get.
What a wonderful article. Thanks for posting.
I’ve heard this story before.
But not the beer part. Great ending. Thanks.
Ahh.... now I know why my neighbors house looks the way it does. And I think he is some kind of college professor.
Bookmark
Great lesson. Wasted a couple of beers, though.
good stuff
Or there’s... “Seek ye the kingdom of heaven first”...
... If we are about the Lord’s business, He will always be about our business...
Here is the full Word on priorities:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
YOUR TREASURE IS WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
ONE CANNOT SERVE BOTH GOD AND MONEY: IT’S IMPOSSIBLE
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT THE THINGS OF LIFE
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
YOU HAVE MUCH MORE VALUE THAN THE BIRDS OF THE AIR!
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
WORRY NOT
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD...
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
DON’T FRET ABOUT FOOD/CLOTHES: TRUST GOD KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
GOD ISN’T STINGY, BTW
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
BE YE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
He could have added water, then dissolved even more into that!
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