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Pickle jar teaches lesson in life
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Published: September 4, 2008
In a college philosophy course, the teacher decided to make a graphic point, so he brought an extra-large pickle jar to class.
In front of the students, he proceeded to fill it up with rocks, all several inches round.
He then asked, "Is the jar full?" and the class answered, "Yes!" Without speaking a word, he picked up a box of pebbles, poured them in the jar, then slowly shook the jar so the pebbles filled in the small gaps between the rocks.
Again he asked, "Now, is the jar full?" A more emphatic "Yes!" from the students was what he heard.
He then picked up a small bag of sand and slowly poured it in the jar, and like sand in an hourglass, it sifted its way between the rocks and pebbles to fill the tiniest spaces.
"Now, is the jar full?" he asked. "Yes, without question!" came the reply.
The professor then told them, "the jar is your life, and the rocks represent the big things, the important things."
Those are hings like family, people you cherish, your health, your home, loyal customers, a job you enjoy, your continual personal and professional growth.
The pebbles are the basics, things like good food, exercise, laughter, hard work, time for leisure, new experiences, learning new things, all things that make the big things that much richer.
The sand, it's the small stuff. And if you first fill up your jar with sand, you'll have no room for the rocks, or the pebbles. Your priorities will be pouring your energy and your effort into things that don't matter, and you get caught up in a useless busy-ness that steals your time, your happiness, and your life away.
So what are your priorities, your big rocks, the things that really matter? When's the last time you really thought about it? Are you really where you want to be at this point in your life?
Your Cup of Life
Raymond McHenry, in "McHen-ry's Stories for the Soul," tells of the time Bill Cosby was a student in a college philosophy class, debating that timeless question "is the glass half full or half empty?"
That night at home after class, Cosby posed the question to his dad, who replied, "That's easy. It all depends on whether you're pouring or drinking."
The elder Cosby's message was really this: When you are pouring, you are giving, adding, contributing. When you are drinking, you're taking, using and consuming.
A noble goal is to make the people around you, your community, even the world, better off from having had you in their life. Pour yourself and all you have into what you do every day, into those you serve, and why you get out of bed.
It's the priorities.
So what are yours? If you have to stop and think, it's been too long. Carve out time soon, very soon, to rethink and redefine your purpose, your priorities, what is truly important.
You will find a new strength, power, and personal peace from having reset your course. Some call it confidence, but all will be able to see a change in you, for the better.
It's the big rocks, not the sand, that make it all worthwhile. Be sure you know the difference.
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