One Saturday morning Jim was listening to the radio when he heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. He was talking about a thousand marbles to someone named Tom.

“Well Tom”, the older gentleman began, “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. It’s hard to believe anybody should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Let me tell you something, Tom. Something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities. You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about 75 years. Now, then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays the average person has in their entire lifetime. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail, and by that time I had lived through over 2800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, 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 with 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large clear plastic container 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 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 I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. It was nice talking 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 hear a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. The old man gave everyone a lot to think about.

Jim had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, he went upstairs and woke up his wife with a kiss.

“Come on, honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast,” Jim said.

“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh, nothing special. It’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids,” explained Jim. “Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

I’m not sure what I can say to comment on this story. The message is quite clear. When you look at life as a container of marbles you think you have a lot of them to spare, but when that container starts to go down, it sure puts things in perspective.

Take a few moments to think about the marbles you have left in your container. As you throw one away every Saturday, ask yourself if you are using your marbles wisely.