GOD, ME, AND THE ROCKS

Here’s an image that I heard yesterday and which struck home with me. I  hope it may be of some help to you as well.

Take a large glass container, maybe a two-quart pitcher,  and fill it to the top with rocks about the size of the child’s fist. You could say that the container is now full.

Next take a couple of handfuls of pebbles and put them in the container, shaking it as you do so. Now you could say that the container is full, right?

Then take a couple of cups of sand and pour it into the container. Now you could say that the container is really full, right?

I guess you can see where this is going. Maybe you could try taking some water and dumping it into the “full” container as well.

Think of this as a parable of my relationship with the Lord. The point is that I have to start with the big rocks first. Sometimes I say “I just don’t have enough time to pray. My day is just so full!” I fill my life with gravel and sand, the less important details in daily life, and leave for last the most important ones, the big rocks, namely my relationship with God, and time for prayer. 

I get to the end of a long, tiring day, and am disappointed that I have little energy,  there’s little room left for God, for nurturing my intimate relationship with the Lord.

If I’m not careful, my life gets filled up first with the gravel and the sand of daily living. The image of the container in which the big rocks went in first offers me a powerful lesson about setting priorities. 

What do I need to do to make sure that the “big rocks” in my life are given priority so as not to be displaced by the less crucial details of daily living?

Certainly worth some serious thought.