“Relationships are like the fragile glass balls. Nothing takes the place of relationships.”

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.120). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

That is so true, isn’t it?  Ray finishes the paragraph by saying, “Fame doesn’t. Wealth can’t. Success won’t.”  And that is so true.

Earlier Ray quoted Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, who said, “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them— work, family, health, friends, and spirit— and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls— family, health, friends, and spirit— are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.”  

Ray says, “Maybe you’ve seen a demonstration where the speaker puts a glass container on the stage with some big and small rocks next to it. A volunteer will try to put all the rocks in the jar, starting with the smallest rocks. When the volunteer starts with the small rocks, not all the big rocks will fit. But when the volunteer is told to put in the big rocks first, everything fits. The point is, start with the big rocks, the most important items, and the little rocks like the petty tasks and errands will find their place. Relationships are like the huge rocks.”

He then tells of when “A friend just lost his elderly father. Right after his dad’s death, my friend started converting old family slides into electronic files. He bought a machine and watched with keen interest as, slide by slide, images of his family’s history went by. He converted more than five hundred slides, but he hardly glanced at most. Pictures flashed by of parades and cars and landscapes and fun trips to the zoo with his dad. Then he’d stop to stare awhile because there before him were the images of people— boys and girls and men and women he knew and loved, and the dad his heart ached over. Giraffes are fun to see at the zoo, but fifty years later, it’s the father gazing at the animal that captures a son’s full attention. It’s paying attention to the most important stuff now that creates the unfading images later.”

It’s a good reminder, isn’t it?