Christian Living

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The Big Picture
©

by

Stephen A. Peterson

Don Tiger, an expert with respect to time management, was invited to lecture to psychology graduate students who were about to receive their Masters and Doctorate educations and degrees. After the introductions were made and audience applause subsided, Mr. Tiger advanced to the podium to speak. As he stood in front of Oklahoma State University’s finest, his first words were, “Okay all, its time for your exit exam.” His statement was met by laughter from these outstanding students of psychology.

Bending over then standing back up he raised a large empty, wide mouth pickle jar with the pickle brand label still on it over his head then placed the jar on a table to his left where everyone could see. Once again, Mr. Tiger bent over and pulled out a big blue, plastic Wal-Mart bag full of 3” X 5” bronze picture frames. He carefully placed the frames into the jar.

When he could no longer put any more frames in the jar, he asked the graduate students, “Is this pickle jar full, ya’ll?”

Many of the graduate students shouted, “Yes, it is! You bet!”

“Oh-h-h-h, really? Said Mr. Tiger. He reached under the podium then lifted up a small container filled with diamonds, rubies and carbuncles. He poured these items into the pickle jar and slightly shook the jar causing the precious stones to work their way through the gaps of the pictures frames. Some of the stones reached the bottom of the jar.

Then Mr. Tiger grinned and asked the graduate students again, “Is this jar full?” This time the graduate students picked up on his scheme. “Maybe, Maybe not,” one student mockingly shouted to the podium.

“Excellent!” he replied. Then he reached under the table for a small bucket of gold dust. He began pouring the gold in the jar that filled the spaces of the picture frames and gems. Again, he asked the question, “Graduate students, is this pickle jar full?”

“Nope! No!” shouted most of the members of the class.

“Hey, you’re getting pretty good with this exam!” Then he picked up a container of the most expensive bottle of Nappa Valley White wine and filled the jar to the brim. He looked out to the assembly of graduate students then asked, “What is the point of my little exam?”

A graduate student about the receive his doctorate in clinical psychology with a specialty in psychoanalysis stood up then said, “Your point, Mr. Tiger, is you can work in more clients in your schedule if you schedule the most difficult cases first, see how much time you have left in the day then schedule the not-so-difficult cases towards the end of your work day.”

“NO!” Mr. Tiger replied, “that is not the point. The truth this exercise teaches is: “If you don’t put the big pictures in first, you will not get the other things in at all.”

The title of this story is: “The Big Picture” What are the big pictures in your life? Your relationship with God? Your spouse? Your marriage? Your children? Your family? Your relationships with others? Remember to put these BIG PICTURES first in your life or you will never get THE PICTURE in your daily living at all! Eh!

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