(I ACTUALLY HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT THIS FIRST STORY IS TRULY TRUE -- M.W.)
· The Deal
A young woman living in a poor coal mining town, unwed and with a little girl and a baby girl goes around to the only privately-owned store in the "patch". The owner/grocer asked her what she needed.

"Well, I need a lot of things but all I can afford is this formula for my baby," she said. He rang her up for the formula and she went on her way. As he watched her head for her house, he ran after her and stopped her. He urged her to come back inside.

"Tell me what you really need, and don't tell me how much you have," he pleaded.

She gave him a meager list: milk, bread, some eggs maybe, some diaper pins, and maybe an ice cream for her little girl. The man gathered these items and bagged them for her. He handed the little girl an ice cream and asked if the young woman wanted anything for herself. She shook her head, ashamed she could not pay for these things alone. She would not pick up the bag, bargaining with him when she could pay for these items.

They finally struck a fair deal, and these were the terms:

The young woman would take these items. Her debt would not be to him alone but to all the world. The owner/grocer made her swear on the lives of her daughters that she would never pass up another person in need, that if she had enough she would pass on to others whether it be time, money, groceries, friendship or love. And she would try to raise her daughters to do the same.

Since that day many, many, many years ago, she has not only raised those daughters, but two more after that and a son... not to mention sons and daughters she has "adopted" into her heart (which are too many to count).

When she owned a restaurant, she often let poor people eat at her counter without so much as receiving a check. And for five Thanksgivings, she opened her restaurant and her family to those who had little food or little family to share the holiday with.

I don't know if all her children live up the promise she made those many years ago, but after hearing her story, each of us--some with money, some with time, some with talent but all with love--try our hardest to keep her promise. I think my mom has lived up to her end.

J.M.

· This is very wise... The busier you are, the more important it is for you to stop and read this story.

One day, an expert in time-management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used a demonstration those students will never forget.

As he stood in front of the group of students, he said, "OK, time for a quiz." He then pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone in the class said, "Yes."

Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is this jar full?"

By this time, the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.

"Good," he replied, and reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand into the jar and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is the jar full?"

"No!" the class shouted.

Once again, he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it until the jar was filled to the brim. Then the expert in time-management looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this demonstration?"

One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it."

"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this lesson teaches us is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the big rocks in your life? Your children? Your spouse? Your loved ones? Your friendships? Your education? Your dreams? A worthy cause? teaching or mentoring others? Doing things that you love? Time for yourself? Your health. Remember to put these big rocks in FIRST, or you'll never get them in at all.

"If you sweat the little stuff (gravel, sand), then you'll fill your life with little things to worry about that don't really matter, and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the important stuff (big rocks)."

So tonight, or in the morning, when you reflect on this short story, ask yourself this question: "What are the big rocks in my life?"

Then put those in your jar first

· We've all heard the phrase "you learn something new everyday." Well, here's today's lesson: Think before you speak!! This actually happened at Harvard University in October last year.

In biology class, the professor was discussing the high glucose levels found in semen. A female freshman raised her hand and asked, "If I understand you, you're saying there is a lot of glucose, as in sugar, in semen?"

That's correct," responded the professor, going on to add statistical info.

Raising her hand again, the girl asked, "Then why doesn't it taste sweet?"

After a stunned silence, the class burst out laughing. The poor girl's face turned bright red, and as she realized exactly what she had inadvertently said (or rather implied), she picked up her books without a word and walked out of class, never to return.

However as she was going out the door, the Prof's reply was classic. Totally straight-faced he answered her question:

"It doesn't taste sweet because the taste buds for sweetness are on the tip of your tongue and not the back of your throat."