As I sat down to the computer screen this morning with sleep still in my eyes, I began my day with reading my Facebook feed.
I needed something positive to feed my soul and enrich my life. Therefore, I read with hope and a purpose that someone had posted something noteworthy. I read post after post until I scrolled to a post about a man I had never heard of . . . His name was Paul “Bear” Bryant.
I guess he was a man who did amazing things. From the snippets of what I read about him, he was a private man who believed anyone could do extraordinary things. And after his death a piece of paper was found in his wallet. Later the information was shared with the world; and today I got the chance to be blessed with the wisdom he cherished and left.
The message packs a powerful punch on being mindful of a gift that can’t be replaced. I’m sharing his message because it’s so profound. The content of the message should make every reader deeply think about their life and the direction its going; because the writer truly knew what made ordinary people do extraordinary things.
Magic Bank Account
Imagine that you won the following *PRIZE* in a contest:
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for you to spend. However there were some rules:
1. Everything that you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You can’t transfer money into some other account.
3. You can only spend it.
4. Each morning when you wake up, the bank puts another $86,400 in your account.
5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time. It can simply say “Game Over!” and close the account. And you won’t get a new one.
What Would You Do? You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for people you don’t know, because you couldn’t possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right?
ACTUALLY, This GAME is REAL ……
Each of us is already a winner of this *PRIZE*. We just can’t seem to see it. The PRIZE is *TIME*
1. Each morning we wake to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life. 2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us. 3. What we haven’t used up that day is forever lost. 4. Yesterday is forever gone. 5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time WITHOUT WARNING.
SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds? Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.
It seems that every life form on this planet strives toward its maximum potential…except human beings. A tree does not grow to half its potential size and then say, “l guess that will do.” A tree will drive its roots as deep as possible. It will soak up as much nourishment as it can, stretch as high and as wide as nature will allow, and then look down as if to remind us of how much each of us could become if we would only do all that we can. ~Jim Rohn
A true friend knows your weakness but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.
Love isn’t perfect. It isn’t a fairytale or a storybook and it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on and never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, and impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, love is realizing that every hour, every minute, every second of it was worth it because you did it together. [Author unknown]
A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It’s like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
Point to ponder: Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends. Life is too short and friends are too few!
‘Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to MOVE your Feet’
Black Women Have It Going On 