parable of the pebbles and the sand

This was sent to me in an email this morning and I found it so appropriate that I wanted to share it with you here. Some deep thoughts as you start out this new year.

The following is an excerpt from the Early to Rise newsletter
published at www.earlytorise.com. I picked it out as a New Year
reminder of the things that are most important in life...

Dear Reader,

A philosophy professor and his student stand in a warehouse. A large
tin bucket and several boxes are in front of them.

The professor picks up a box that contains large rocks, each one about
four inches in diameter, and pours them into the bucket. The stones
reach the top of the bucket, and he asks the student if it is full.

"It is," the student replies.

The professor takes another box, this one containing stones about one
inch in diameter, and pours them over the rocks in the bucket. The
smaller stones fill in the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asks
the student if the bucket is full.

The student looks and says, "It is."

The professor then pours in the contents of a third box, this one
containing small pebbles. Again, the student looks in and agrees that
the bucket is full.

Finally, the professor pours a box of sand on top of the rocks,
stones, and pebbles. And once more, for the fourth time, the student
has to acknowledge that the bucket is full.

"The lesson," the professor tells the student, "is to do the most
important thing first, and each lesser thing in order of its priority.
In this way, you will be able to fill up your life four times, instead
of just once. If you do the unimportant things first, you'll be
filling your bucket with sand... and there won't be room for anything
else."