Parable of the Rocks in the Jar

What are your rocks?

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar (might have been a pickle jar) and proceeded to fill it with rocks - rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that NOW it was full.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. "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, and your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would nearly be destroyed. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, or 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 or the rocks. The same is true for your life: If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important in life.

Take care of the rocks. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

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I've been coming to the conclusion that the important stuff in life -- the rocks -- for me are increasingly a God who is Love and Truth and light, and what this intelligent and wise God has created. Pursuing my relationship with this God is major.

And Christ for me defines my relationship to God and man. Christ invites each of us to contribute in caring and constructive and unselfish ways to the world we live in. To leave it a better place because we were here.

The rocks are also how we relate to one another. Whether we are kinder today than yesterday, more patient today than yesterday, more forgiving today than yesterday. Less critical today than yesterday.

The pebbles are pretty much what the story says, useful things that allow us to be better and more thoughtful contributors. For instance, we can offer non-driving friends a ride if we have a car. We can probably help with worthy causes more easily if we can drive there. Most likely we can be more generous if we have a job that provides income.

And the sand -- the small stuff -- that'll fit in if there's time. And if it doesn't, that's OK.

"Set your heart first on His kingdom and His goodness
And all these things will come to you
As a matter of course."
Phillips Modern English