"Putting Big Rocks in First"
Sunday, March 3, 2002
A time management expert spoke to a class of business students. He said, "Okay, time for a quiz." He put a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar on the table. He then placed a dozen fist-sized rocks, one at a time, into the jar. He asked the class, "Is it full?" The class answered, "Yes." He reached under the table, produced a bucket of gravel, and poured gravel into the jar. "Is the jar full?" he asked. The class answered, "Probably not." He then poured sand into the jar. "Is it full now?" The class said, "No." He then poured water into the jar. The expert asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One student said, "No matter how full your schedule is, you can always fit some more things into it." The expert said, "No! The point is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
One big rock is time for your own needs. Jesus expressed his own need as he sat in the heat of the noonday sun, saying to a woman, "Give me a drink of water" (John 4:7). Author and counselor Michael Angier recalls sitting on an airplane listening to the flight attendant's instructions. She emphasized the importance of putting on your own oxygen mask before assisting anyone else. If you don't care for yourself, you won't be able to help others. Paul wrote to Timothy, "Pay attention to yourself." He told leaders at Ephesus, "Be careful about your own spiritual life."
Another big rock is time for the needs of others. Jesus cared for the Samaritan woman who needed a drink of human kindness and acceptance. For 13 years Peter Lynch was manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund. Lynch wrote: "When you start to confuse Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae, and Fannie Mae with members of your own family, and your remember 2,000 stock symbols but forget your children's birthdays, there a good chance you've become too wrapped up in your work." People handle this big rock: children caring for aging parents; parents raising children; people supporting friends; volunteers helping strangers.
Another big rock is time to do work with a sense of meaning and purpose. Jesus said to his disciples, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started" (John 4:34, The Message). Viktor Frankl, founder of Logotherapy, quoted Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." Frankl saw a widespread phenomenon he called "The Existential Vacuum." It is an inner emptiness that shows itself as a state of boredom. He said the effects of this inner emptiness and lack of a sense of meaning are three: depression, addiction, and aggression.
