Priorities

I love reading from books that inspire and uplifts, taking a person from where he is to where he needs to go.  So, I would like to share this particular excerpt on putting first things first or priorities:

Ask the average person which is more important to him, making money or being devoted to his family, and virtually everyone will answer family without hesitation.  But watch how the average person actually lives out his life.  See where he really invests his time and energy, and he will give away the fact that he does not really live by what he believes.  He has let himself be persuaded that if he leaves for work earlier in the morning and comes home more tired at night, he is proving how devoted he is to his family by expending himself to provide them with all the things they have seen advertised.

Ask the average person which means more to her, the approval of strangers or the affection of people closest to her, and she won't be able to understand why you would even ask such a question.  Obviously nothing means more to her than her family and her closest friends.  Yet how many of us have embarrassed our children or squelched their spontaneity, for fear of what neighbors or strangers might think?  How often have we poured out our anger on those closest to us because we had a hard day at work or someone else did something to upset us?  And how many of us have let ourselves become irritable with our families because we were dieting to make ourselves look more attractive to people who do not know us well enough to see beyond appearances?