Use our time wisely

A time-management professional is brought into a busy corporation for a lecture.
He fills a jar with stones until no more fit in. "Is this jar full?" he asks the audience. All heads nod in concurrence.

The speaker takes out a sack of pebbles and pours them into the jar. He asks the audience again, "Is now this jar full?" A few heads vigorously nod in agreement while others express uncertainty.

The speaker then lifts a bag of sand and begins pouring it into the jar. He continues to pour the sand until the jar can contain no more. "Now is the jar full?" he asks.

Nearly everyone is now certain that the jar is finally filled.

Finally, the speaker pulls out a bottle of water and slowly pours the water into the jar. "Now is this jar full?" asks the speaker. The participants all shake their heads in agreement.

"We learn from this", says the lecturer, "that first we must schedule into our days that which is most essential and significant. Afterwards, we do the 'important' matters. Then, We follow that up by adding to our schedules matters of lesser importance. And only after we have incorporated all of these into our days and weeks do we fill up the rest of our time with the inconsequential matters."

We are now in the midst of the three-week period of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples.. For about 2000 years we have been praying for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, the in gathering of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, and Moshiach. The hope and prayers for the Redemption have always been part of the personal and collective jar of the Jewish people.

Before our jars get packed with time-wasters and energy-sappers, let's fill them with simple acts of goodness, dignified acts of kindness and the foundation stones of Torah study and mitzva observance. Let's increase in acts of goodness and kindness, in Torah study and in holy deeds, as a preparation for the era that will be utterly good, kind and holy for the Jewish people and the world.

Wishing you all a very fulfilling day.