What a Jar of Marbles Can Teach You. 

     There is an old e-mail, that I'm sure is circulating, that tells of an older gentleman who loved his Saturdays.  It was the one day of the week where he didn't have to get up and go somewhere and he didn't plan anything.  He loved Saturdays so much that he calculated how many Saturdays he would have left.  He knew there were 52 Saturdays in a year, and that his life expectancy would be around 75 years.  He multiplied the two numbers and got 3900. Then he realized that he was already getting old, and he guessed he had about a thousand Saturdays left.

     He went out to the toy store and bought one thousand marbles and a huge glass jar.  Each Saturday, he woke up in the morning and threw away one marble.  It didn't seem to make a difference at first, but slowly and surely, the jar started getting emptier and emptier.  Each Saturday brought with it new challenges and joys, each of which were more appreciated since the man now realized that with each passing week, the marbles quickly diminished.  He kept the jar close and always knew it would serve as a reminder to not let a day pass by without realizing it was a gift.

     How does this apply? As I'm typing this, I realize how busy I am.  Everyday, I get up and go to work, come home for lunch, go back to work, come home, go to bed, and wake up to start everything over again.  I looked at the calendar and realized that April is done and May is not only here, but it's also already 1/5 of the way done.  Where does the time go?  Blink twice and I'll be in college classes, and look again and I'll be in my twenties.

     The point I'm trying to make is that we need to live every day as if it is a gift - not just Saturdays, either.  Every day we have the ability to impact someone's life - and be Christ's hands and feet for them.  What a marble-ous opportunity.  
God bless,

Chloe M.