Big Rocks

When I was growing up, our preacher always told stories to go along with every sermon he preached. Even as a young child, I would listen to those stories and pick up important lessons. One story was about a teacher who asked a child to place an assortment of items in a large jar: big rocks, small rocks, pebbles, sand, and water. The child tried but kept running out of room. The teacher then told the child, "If you put the big rocks in first then everything else will fit in the cracks left by the big rocks. Every day we are bombarded by heart wrenching stories or what happens when we do not put the big rocks in first: broken families, death of a child, health problems that could have been prevented, mental health problems that could have been small had they been dealt with earlier, etc. There are so many distractions in life that it is easy to become side tracked and forget to put the big rocks in first until the water starts spilling out the top of the jar. May I remember to thankful every day of the year for the "big rocks" in my life and not worry about the "pebbles."