Big Rocks...

In the middle of the lecture the presenter pulled out a wide-mouth jar and placed it on the table, aside to some fist-sized rocks.

After filling the jar to the top with rocks he asked, “Is the jar full?”

People could see that no more rocks would fit, so they replied, “Yes!”

“Not so fast,” he cautioned. He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar, filling the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, “Is the jar full?”

This time the students replied “Probably not.”

The presenter then reached a bucket of sand below the table, and dumped it on the jar, filling the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once again he asked “Is the jar full?”

“No!”, the students shouted.

Finally, he grabbed a pitcher of water and filled the jar completely, asking to the public what they could learn from that illustration.

One of the participants answered, “If you work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

“No,” said the presenter. “The point is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first. . . would you ever have gotten any of them in?”

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health - anything that is so important to you that if were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles, and the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your wife out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, and fix the disposal."

"Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." Stephen Covey

This was part of our sermon this morning. It got us thinking...I'm sure there are plenty of other things I can be doing instead of surfing the net for recipes, tips, blogs of like minded people, etc. I tell myself I am just going to check facebook while I'm taking a break. But, then my break lasts quite longer than anticipated. I could read a book instead on my break. (When I say break, I'm meaning a break for household chores) I'll be praying and pondering on this for a while as to what God would have me to do with my time and what is more of a priority and what's not. I tend to think housework and such is a priority and can inadvertently ignore Hunter when he is talking to me. Not good. He needs my time and attention more than the chores do...When Ryan gets home from work, I tend to be up to my elbows in dish soap and don't always greet him at the door like I should (and he likes). How important is it to me with what I do with the time I have in a day...do I show it? Do you?