Pebbles

Source: The Internet

Once in a ‘time management’ lecture, the professor placed a jar on the desk. Then, from beneath the desk, he took out some ‘pebbles’ that could just fit through the opening of the jar.

When the professor had filled the jar with these pebbles, he asked the students, “Can you tell me whether the jar is full or not?”  All the students unanimously replied, “Yes”.

 “Really?”  the professor asked with a laugh.

Once more, from beneath the desk, he took out a bag of gravel and started pouring the gravel into the jar, gave the jar a quick shake, continued to add more in, and then asked the students again, “Tell me, is the jar full now?”  This time the students dared not answer so rapidly. Ultimately, one student replied shyly in a tiny voice, “Perhaps not...”

“Very good!”  As the professor finished speaking, again from beneath the desk, he took out a bag of sand and slowly poured all the sand into the jar. Once this was done, he asked the students again, “Now can you tell me again, is this jar full?  Or is it still not full?”
“Not full!”  the whole class replied confidently, the students being a lot smarter this time.

“Great!”  the professor further praised the students as ‘teachable children’. As he finished praising, from beneath the desk, the professor took out a large bottle of water, and poured the water into the jar that appeared to be full of pebbles, gravel and sand.

Once all this was complete, the professor asked the students solemnly, “What important lesson have we learnt from the above?”

There was a deadly silence, then, one student, who considered himself quite clever, replied, “No matter how busy we are at work, how full our schedule may be, if we give ourselves a push, we can still do a lot more.” As he finished speaking, he proudly thought to himself, “This lecture is basically talking about time management.”

Upon hearing this, the professor nodded, smiled and said, “The answer is not bad, but it is not the important message that I want to tell you today.”
At this point, the professor paused momentarily, then sweeping a glance over the whole class, he said, “The most important message I want to teach you all today is that, if you do not put the large ‘pebbles’ into the jar first, you may never get the chance to put them in later. Have you ever thought about what are your ‘pebbles’ in life?”

What are our ‘pebbles’ in life?  Is it we and our loved ones stay together forever?  Is it our religion?  Education?  Dreams?  Is it a goal worth striving for?  To be a good role-model to youngsters?  To leave worthy memories for the next generation?

Perhaps before going to bed tonight, or when one has a peaceful moment, we should all think about the question, “What are my ‘pebbles’ in life?”

Often, education only teaches us how to study well and to enter good schools, but rarely teaches us how to be a happy person, and to have a valuable life. In other words, we all know how to fill the jar with gravel, and then add sand and water; however, few people understand the importance of filling the jar with ‘pebbles’ first.