On Life 10 – Priorities – January, 23, 2014

   We spoke in the last article about the importance of having values and principles in life as by which people can control themselves and train themselves on having the best qualities that make of them true people who appreciate, realize and live true humanity. During our life we may ask will everybody live according to my principles. Why should I be the one who sets values and principles for his life, while some people around me live freely with no rules? Many questions and comparisons fill one’s mind till he relinquishes his values and principles? Dear man, we walk on life path only for once and if we fixed our vision on those around us we will discover that the path finished, yet we did not live the life that we were gifted by. So my dear reader, start with yourself and here is a story whose incidents took place in Texas.

   While the conflict has been intensified between the politics competitors, we can find Mrs. Maverjason; offering her ideas and suggestions for the future. One day she went back home after making an enthusiastic tour in which she offered  speech all around Texas, she said to her husband with great pride and joy, “I think I will sweep Texas”, but her husband looked around the room and said “What do you think if you begin by this room?”. Her husband wanted to offer her a great lesson; greatness of man beings by his soul and one should always start by himself.

   So let us start by ourselves and light the candles of values and principles. When we start by ourselves and exert more efforts. We will find people life us who strife on the life path and those who want to be near us as we inspired them with our actions, concepts and beliefs.

   For all your life, do not be busy thinking of trivial matters and forget about more greater and important matters. I will explain more through a story I read about a lecture offered by a Business Administration Professor for his students. The lecture started by a simple test; he put a large jar on a table and he brought a number of big stones. Then he asked the students, is the jar full now?

   The students were surprised as it seems to them that there was no space for more stones. Yet, some students said, “Yes”. Hence, the professor opened another sack full of little stones and he started to put them at the empty spaces between the large ones till all the empty spaces were full. Then he asked again, is the jar full now?

   Students were hesitant to answer, but some of them said, “Maybe no”. The professor smiled at this answer and he brought some sand of another sack then put it n the jar, till all the empty spaces were full. Then he repeated his question, “Now what do you think…Is the jar full now?”Here all the students said that the jar was not full yet.

   He started his lecture by asking about this experiment, how they saw and explained it. One of the students answered that he understood from the experiment that man can always do more, but the question he asked was whether they could the steps in reverse by putting water, sand, pebbles then stones; would the jar be able to contain all what it was able to contain before. I think that it would not and this was the answer of the professor who praised the student for his answer. The he offered a deeper though and said, “This experiment teaches us that if we do not put the large stones first, we will never manage to put them later” Here I will let each reader determine what he sees as large stones in his life. I assure you that the walker on life path should learn to arrange their priorities accurately, so that they can put the main and essential tasks first, if else they will never be able to achieve them later on. On the sea of life we are still sailing…

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center