What Can You Do With 1000 Marbles

An inspiring story about 1000 marbles.

1000 Marbles

by: Unknown Author

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps
it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to
rise, of 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 kitchen, 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 volume up on my radio
in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an
older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind,
he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business
himself.

He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named
"Tom". I was intrigued and sat down 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. Too bad you missed your daughter's
dance recital. " He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom,
something that has helped me keep a good perspective on 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 3900 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 1000 marbles.
"I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear
plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio.
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 is 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 if I make it until next Saturday then
God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my
loved ones...... "It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you
spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you
again someday. Have a good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the
show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to
do some work that morning, then go to the gym. 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," I said. " It has
just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with
the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I
need to buy some marbles."

How many marbles do you have?