setup: [E-Mail Ministry] A Thousand Marbles

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A THOUSAND MARBLES

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 atypical 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. know, some live more and some live less, but
on average, folks live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 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 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. 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 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."

-- Author Unknown

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