Life is about Golf Balls and Kuaci
Posted: April 24, 2009 by stevie
It sounds like a great title for a book, doesn’t it?
A simple illustration we used in cell a couple of weeks back on priorities in life was this:
1. Get an empty glass
2. Fill it with golf balls (you can probably fill it with 3 - 4) without it spilling over. Once again our cell host offered to be the Vana White assistant to the illustration.
3. Ask,is the cup full of golf balls? Can we put in any more golf balls without spilling? (Yes and no)
4. Now, open a bag of kuaci. To the uninitated, kuaci are roasted melon seeds, extremely addictive, usually a delicacy for birds or chinese people who sit around coffee shops. Oh, for some reason, it’s impossible to resist it during chinese new year, especially when watching a kung-fu movie or playing cards. Anyways.
5. Pour the precious kuaci into the cup. (Don’t worry, kuaci is quite cheap). It will fill up the gaps between the golf balls.
6. Ask, is the cup full of kuaci and golf balls? Can we add anymore kuaci without spilling and making a mess? (Yes and no again)
7. Finally, fill in water. The water will seep through the balls and kuaci till it is full. Now you got a great kuaci-golfball cocktail!
8. Use another cup, but this time do it in reverse. Fill the cup with water, then try adding kuaci and golf balls without spilling anything. Is it possible? (No. If somehow it’s possible, you better relook at your steps)
What’s essentially being said is this. The cup represents our life. We have choices to fill it with different things. The golf balls are the important things in life. Our relationship with God, our family, or health, true friendships. Basically, if everything else is lost, and only these are left, your life will still be full.
The kuaci represents all the other stuff that are good to have but not essential. Our jobs for instance. Sure, money is really required. But hey, if we lose our jobs, is that at the same level of losing our family, our kids, our health etc? We can still adjust, if we have our health. Take a lower paid job, adjust expenses etc. Our house, our cars are all good to have, but if we need to scale back to a smaller car, a rented house, we still can do it. It’s nowhere at the same level of losing our faith, or losing our family members.
The water represents all the other things in life. The small stuff. Your sports. Your golf. Your movie times, your hangout times, your parties, your hobbies. If we don’t do these things, sure, we feel like we’re not fulfilled somewhat, but hey, don’t sweat the small stuff.
If we put in the small stuff first in our lives and worry about it, we’ll never have enough room for the things that matter. If we fill the cup with water, we won’t have time for the kuacis and the golf balls. And see, not everything can become your golf balls, because they are big and they take a big part of our lives. Sometimes I find it hard to understand how anyone can obsess over their cars and sports like golf and football and neglect their family or relationships. It’s ridiculous, to devote so much time into silly things like that. There’s a difference between passion and obsession. Passion is controlled, and is positively infectious to others around. A person passionate about his football team is a great person to be around. But obsession is uncontrolled. A person who neglects his duties as a father, husband and continuously choose hobbies over family and God and ministry? He’ll end up miserable, because he has filled his cup with useless water. And worse, he makes others around him miserable.
So, let’s pick the golf balls over the kuacis, and let the kuacis come first over the water.
We had a great time eating the remaining kuacis in the mamak later. Hmmmmm.
Tags:cell notes