A Mayonnaise Jar Lesson

Great story I came across this morning - worth sharing.  Who wants to meet for coffee?
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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 fills it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. 

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it 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 cups of coffee 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 - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.” he said.

“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...” he told them.

“So... pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Worship with your family. Play with your children. Take your partner out to dinner. Spend time with good friends. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap. 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 coffee represented. 

The professor smiled and said, “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 of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Ode to My Neighbor

News of Whitney Houston's passing is on every news channel this morning.  I really loved her music in the 80s and 90s and would sing her songs when they came on the radio.  But today I'm sad for the loss of one of my Steel Magnolias - Jane Bounds.  While Whitney was making music, Jane was making news.  


Those of us 'old Rockwall' folks will always remember that Jane was the owner and editor of The Rockwall Success.  She lived in the red house on Nash Street and drove big fancy (sometimes red) cars.  She wore diamonds and designer clothes - all with red somewhere in the fabric.  She had her hair 'fixed' weekly. She wore red lipstick and red nail polish.  Her best friends were Mattie and Sammie and Mary Ellen.  When she saw me in my backyard she would yell ' Hey Neighbor' and even years later (when we no longer lived near her) she would greet me with a hug and call me neighbor.

Me with my original Steel Magnolias - Mattie, Sammie, Jane

She was one of the first to knock on my front door the day Wesley died.  She wrote about her friendship with my five year old in her newspaper.  She later understood how it felt to lose a child and because of that we were bound together forever by invisible threads.


Jane was the definition of the word neighbor "a person who lives near another; a person or thing that is near another; one's fellow human being: to be generous toward one's less fortunate neighbors; a person who shows kindness or helpfulness toward other fellow humans: to be a neighbor to someone in distress".  


Goodbye sweet neighbor -- you will be missed.


PS.  Today I'm going to get my nails painted red, listen to Elvis, drink a Dr Pepper and have a Hershey's bar - all in  honor of Jane.