SATURDAYS
AND A THOUSAND
MARBLES
This past week I received an e-mail from
Mac Anderson, who produces a website known as Simple Truths. He
shared a wonderful story, which I would like to pass on to you,
as we begin the season of Lent together. The season of Lent is
typically a time for personal reflection and meditation about our
relationship with God and with other people. This story is about
just that. Let's call it "Saturdays and a Thousand
Marbles".
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday morning. 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 garage with a steaming cup of
coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. 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 dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham
radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the
way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal
and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be
in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking
with something about a thousand marbles. I was intrigued and stopped
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. It’s too bad
you missed your daughters dance recital, he continued; Let me
tell you something that has helped me keep 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. I 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 3,900, 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 1,000 marbles.
I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic
container right here in the shack next to my
gear.
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's 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
that 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 meet you, Tom. I hope you
spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here
on the band. This is a 75 year old man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT,
good morning!" You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this
fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I
had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was
going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club
newsletter. 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, its just been a long time since we spent a Saturday
together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while
were out? I need to buy some
marbles."
PRAYER:
Loving God, in the midst of our work, our hectic schedules, our
activities and our responsibilities, help us to find the time to
spend on those people and relationships that really make a
difference - our relationship with you and our relationships with
those whom you have given us to love. During this Lenten season,
create in us a desire to be fully present to You and to those whom
you have given to be in relationship with us. In the name of
Jesus. Amen.
