A professor stood before his philosophy class. He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
He then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. The pebbles rolled into the open spaces between the golf balls. Again he asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
He 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 produce two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand grains. The students laughed.
‘Now’, said the professor ‘I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life; the golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, friends, favourite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, house, car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first’ he continued ‘there’s no room for the pebbles or the gold 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. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’
One of the students asked what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked,’ he said. ‘It just goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend’.
Submitted by Angela Read from a parish magazine in Cornwall
The Mayonnaise Jar