A while back I read a story about a man who decided to sit down one day and figure up how many Saturdays we have if we live the average lifespan of 75 years. 75 years multiplied by 52 weeks comes to 3,900. At the time he made this thought provoking discovery he was 55 years old and had already lived through 2,800 Saturdays. He realized that if he lived to 75 he only had about 1,000 Saturdays left.
The man filled a jar with 1,000 marbles and each Saturday he threw one marble away. He found that by watching the marbles diminish, he focused more on the important things in life. “There’s nothing like watching your life here on earth run out to help get your priorities straight.” the man explained on a popular radio show.
We can’t choose how long we get to live, but we can choose how we spend our lives. Sometimes we are confused about how we should live our lives in order to be happy. We think that to live life to the fullest we need to be tanning on a tropical beach, listening to the surf, burying our feet in the sand and far from modern life (and wifi). But happiness isn’t only found in the tropics, nor does it have anything to do with the perfect tan (I know, hard to believe).
Happiness is different for everyone, but everyone can achieve it. It’s one of the only things we can muster up out of thin air simply by focusing on gratitude. The man I mentioned above was grateful for each marble- each Saturday that he had left- and he was determined not to take any of his last for granted.
Life is a precious gift that we tend to take for granted but being intentional with our days will help us stay in the here and now and live each day as if it’s our last. Remember, it’s the people you love who make each day worth treasuring.
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