I read this story on Facebook. I am going off of memory so I apologize to the writer:

A philosophy professor walks into his packed class. All the students stare at him intently. He reaches under his desk and pulls out a large pickle jar and sets it on the desk. He then pulls out about several golf balls and puts them in the jar until no more will fit.

“Is the jar full?” the professor asks simply.

The class, in unison, exclaims, “Yes”.

The professor reaches under the desk and pulls out a bag of pebbles. He pours the pebbles into the jar and the pebbles roll into the jar, in between the golf balls until no more pebbles will fit.

“Now, is the jar full?” the professor asks.

The class is a little more reluctant and it takes a few seconds before several students respond “Yes”.

The professor nods. He reaches under the desk and pulls out a bag of sand. He pours the sand into the jar and the grains of sand fall easily between the pebbles and golf balls until no more sand can be added.

“Now is the jar full?” the professor asks, a small smirk growing on his face.

The classroom is silent. The eyes of the students going from the jar to the professor. One brave student finally answers in a tentative voice, “Yes…?”

The professor reaches under his desk and pulls out a bottle of Budweiser. He twists off the cap and pours the beer into the jar. The liquid flows between the golf balls, pebbles and sand. When the bottle is empty, the professor screws the cap onto the jar.

A wide smile comes across the professor’s face The students are both enthralled and confused.

“So, what does this represent?” the professor asks.

Only silence comes from the students. The professor walks around the desk and looks at the wondering class.

“The jar represents our lives. The golf balls represent the most important things in our lives: our family, our religion, our integrity and honor, our deepest relationships. We only have a few of these but these are the most important things in our lives.”

The students lean in, as not to miss a word.

“The pebbles represents the things in our lives that we must monitor and maintain. These include our jobs, our home, our minor relationships, our bills. Finally, the sand represents the little things in our lives. These include sweeping up the patio, vacuuming the carpet or seeing that blockbuster movie.”

The eyes of the students begin to see the point of the exercise. Smiles and nods start to appear.

“See, we must treat the things in life like we fill this jar with the golf balls, pebbles and sand. That is how we are going to be successful. We must put the golf balls in first, as we must always handle the important things such as family, religion and honor, first. Without these, we lose ourselves. We then fill the jar with the pebbles. We need to maintain the quality of our lives, you know, pay the mortgage and make the car payment. Finally we deal with the little things last. These are not important and are many. The little things should always conform to the more important things, not vice versa. Remember this jar when you become stressed out and see whether you are worrying about a golf ball, pebble or grain of sand.”

Nods ran across the classroom except for one student.

“What does the Budweiser represent?”

The professor nods and smiles.

“There is always room in life for a good beer.”

I love this little parable. I think about it every time my life seems to go bad. I then realize things are never that bad. In the next entry, I will describe my latest drama and how this parable got me through it before I let the little things stress me out and make things worse.

For now, just think about how this story applies to you.