Shuffling Priorities
It happened on the evening of April 14, 1912. The Titanic, the largest ship
afloat, struck an iceberg in the treacherous waters of the Atlantic. Four hours
later she sank to the bottom.
A place on one lifeboat was reserved for a certain woman. She was just stepping
into the boat when she asked if she could run to the ship's library to get
something. She was allowed three minutes.
The woman ran through the corridors of the reeling vessel. Crossing the saloon
she caught sight of jewelry strewn around the floor. Passengers had hurriedly
cleaned out their safes and dropped valuables as they ran. What an opportunity!
Wealth was literally at her fingertips!
But she ignored the jewelry, made her way to the library, snatched a copy of the
Bible and ran back to the waiting lifeboat.
Earlier that day it may have seemed incredible to the woman to choose a copy of
the Bible over valuable jewelry. But in the face of death, prized valuables
became relatively worthless, and what may have seemed worthless became suddenly
valuable.
Unfortunately, it often takes a catastrophe to shuffle our priorities into a
sensible order. But what a catastrophe when we never do discover what is truly
valuable.
Steve Goodier
lifesupport-subscribe@topica.com