Prioritizing The Big Rocks
Everyone is under the
gun these days. Whether it’s the
homemaker, executive, college student, truck driver, or grocery clerk, it seems
like there is never enough time in the days.
Just ask them. You’ll hear
familiar responses like “Life is busy,” or “I need more hours in the day.” And to make matters worse, our high tech
gadgets such as computers, phones, and microwaves, somehow haven’t decreased
our hectic pace but increased it. In the
midst of it all, Christians, like non-believers,
find their lives at times hopelessly out of control.
One day, an expert on
time management was speaking to a group of business students and to drive home
a point, used an illustration those students never forgot.
As he stood in front
of the group of high-powered overachievers, he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon wide mouthed
mason jar and sat it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized
rocks and carefully place them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no
more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar ‘full’?”
Everyone in the class
said, “Yes.”
Then he said,
“Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the
jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between
the big rocks. Then he asked the group
once more, “Is the jar full?”
By this time the
class was onto him. “Probably not,”
one of them answered. “Good,” he
replied. He reached under the table and
brought out a bucket of sand. He started
dumping the sand in and it went into all of the spaced left between the rocks
and gravel. Once more he asked the
question, “Is the jar full?”
“No,” the class shouted. One again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled
to the brim. Then he looked up at the
class and asked, “What is the point of the illustration?”
One eager student
raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is,
if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it.” “No,” the speaker replied, “that not the
point. The truth this illustration
teaches us is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them
in at all.”
While there are many
big rocks in our lives, there is something we can immediately observe about the
life of Jesus that tells us what rocks must go in first.
- Read the Word: Jesus answered, “It is written…Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
- Relationships: This includes loving the Lord (Matthew 22:37) and loving your family and friends (Matthew 22:3)
- Prayer: “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12)
If you fell as if
your life is out of control, start fresh today. Put the big rocks in first. You’ll be amazed how focusing on “The Rock”
helps us align the other ones.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) What is most consuming of
your time at this point in your life?
2) How can you put Christ is as
a first priority today?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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