What Are You Putting in Your Bucket?

There’s an old manuscript that has this in it:

“Give careful thought to what you’re doing:  You work hard, but have little; you eat, but are never filled; you drink, but you’re still thirsty; you’re never satisfied.  You buy nice clothes, but they are never enough, and you never have enough money because your pockets have holes in them.”

I read a story about a man who was inspired by a children’s book about buckets.  In so many words it said WE are responsible for what we put into our bucket.  So, he decided to work on one of his pressing needs:  More patience.  He went to the hardware store and bought a metal bucket.  He said he looked like a diary farmer, but he carried that bucket with him wherever he went, enduring the questions and comments it brought:

“Do you have a bladder problem?”

“Did you lose your cow?”

“Expecting a flood?”

But he persevered, and soon learned that what he needed– more patience– was HIS choice to have.  It wasn’t other people or things that caused his impatience, it was his own attitude toward– well, everything.

Life doesn’t work the way we want it to– it will ALWAYS go in a way we don’t want or can’t predict.  The way we react to life is OUR decision.

If we continue to fill our buckets with those things that don’t really matter, then the people and things around us won’t matter, either.  If we fill our buckets  with care and compassion and patience and love and understanding, we will soon learn what is really important and what will last through the ups and downs of life.

We learn not only how to be a better person, but we learn how to be content with what we have.

What are you putting in your bucket?