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I believe the answer to true happiness in mind, body, soul and spirit
comes in blessing and rejoicing in the Lord. The Bible says to bless the
Lord at all times (Psalm 34:1) and in (1 Thessalonians 5:17) it says to
give God thanks in everything, the good and the bad. We would be
hypocrites to thank God for all the blessings but when God gives us a
trial to overcome, we would murmur and complain. I encourage you to bless
and praise God for all that He has done for you and brought you out of.
God is worthy to hear our praises unto Him, even for the breath that we
are breathing this very moment.
This is a good story that reminds me to enjoy every moment in life and not
waste time on things that do not matter. I encourage you to think about
how you spend the time the Lord has given you and see if there are some
things that you would like to change. With prayer I believe the Lord will
give you many ways on how to improve and manage every minute that you
have.
I hope you enjoy the story.
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, 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, and 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."
"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 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less
but on average, folks live about 75 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."
"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
75, 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 with 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large clear
plastic container 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
While we are living in the present time things don't seem to move so fast
but when we ponder the past, it feels like 10 to 20 years were here only
yesterday. The Bible says it well in James 4:14 "For what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away." There have been many great men of God such as Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob who lived well over 100 years each, but when compared in Eternal
time, it is less than a drop in an ocean. I encourage you to focus on the
eternal and not the temporary. Live your live to the fullest for God and
serve Him with all your heart, no matter what you do; because God looks at
your heart and not the job at hand.
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
1 Samuel 16:7 "…For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."
Matthew 6:19-21 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
2 Corinthians 4:18 "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal."
All scriptures can be found in the King James Version.
All Glory, Praise and Honor be unto the Lord Jesus Christ for He alone is
worthy of the credit and the blessings that come to us.
In Christ Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry
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