The man hears a guy talking about how the average person lives to the age of seventy-five. 900 months, 3,900 weeks, and roughly 27,300 days on God’s green earth.
This man just celebrated his 68th birthday and worries about how he will spend the remaining days.
He does the math.
He figures he has seven years left, approximately 2,520 precious days in which to live fully.
The man goes to the grocery store and buys the biggest bulk bags of beans he can find and a jumbo plastic container.
He starts to count out the beans as he adds them to the container. It’s a long and tedious process. As he diligently counts out the beans to add to his “Good Life” container, he thinks about what he will do with his time when his container is filled.
Counting his “bean days” doesn’t take as long as one might think, and in a short time, it is completely filled.
When the man wakes up every day, he takes out a bean and plans to have a glorious day filled with love, helping others, and bringing joy to whatever he does each day.
Even the mundane daily chores are done with purpose. The things that used to annoy him now delight him. He always sees the positive instead of the negative. That which was difficult is now easy-peasy.
It’s almost like the beans are blessings waiting to be plucked from the plastic container.
The days go by, and before he knows it, the man is down to his last bean. It’s his 75th birthday. Oh, what a glorious celebration!
He has so many friends and family who love him. They know about the beans; some have even created their own “Good Life” containers.
He looks at the now empty container. Should he refill it? Come up with a new method of counting the days to come?
No. He decides that the lesson is already learned. Life is precious. He makes every day count, whether he’s counting the days or not.
And so, the man lives in harmony with the cycle of life. It’s no longer when or how many. It’s simply living each day to its fullest.
Adapted by Susan Diamond
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