Sorting Through The Rocks

Many have read the excellent "Big Rock/Life Analogy", but it definitely bears repeating, especially at the beginning of a new year:

One day, a teacher was speaking to a group of students and said, “Time for a quiz.” He pulled out a large wide-mouthed jar and set it on the table in front of him, and then produced several large rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar. When the jar was packed to the top, he asked, “Is this jar full?”

Everyone in the group said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of pebbles. He then dumped the pebbles in and gently shook the jar, causing the pebbles to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is this jar full?”

By this time, the group was skeptical. “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 the jar and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the pebbles. Once more, he asked the question. “Is this jar full?”

“No!” everyone shouted. Once again, he said, “Good!” Then he took out a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.

Finally the teacher looked at the group and asked, “What do you think my point of this illustration is?” One eager beaver 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 in.”
“No,” the teacher replied, “that’s not my point. The point is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you will never get them in at all.”

The challenge for me, personally, is not letting the "tyranny of the urgent" sidetrack me from focusing on my Big Rocks: my husband, my kids, daily quiet time with my Maker, and my health. I give lip service to all of these things as being priorities in my life, but sometimes I feel they get squeezed out by other, less important, things.

The pebbles are, of course, the necessary "stuff" of life: work, paying bills, doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, driving the kids to their activities, etc., etc.

I've decided to focus, every day, on making time for each of my Big Rocks. No more excuses..... no more "I'll get to that tomorrow".

It's time to make it happen.

What are your Big Rocks?