Balancing Act

Life as a metaphor;

A young man in the classroom one day asked his philosophy professor how to balance out everything in life. The professor nodded at the young man, and stared off into the distance for a long time contemplating this impossible question. The next day the professor walked in carry a brown paper bag full of different things. Without saying a word, the professor emptied the contents of the bag onto the front desk. It contained an empty masons jar, rocks, pebbles, and sand. First the professor tried to fill the jar with the sand and rice and then the rocks, but all of the sand took up too much space and neither the pebbles nor the rocks could fit inside. The professor emptied the contents of the jar onto the table again and then procceded to add the pebbles. Still the rocks would not fit. In his final attempt the professor added the rocks first, then the pebble, and last the sand. It all fit perfectly.

Life is like an empty masons jar. We often try to fill up our jar with sand first- things like meetings, busyness, emails, phonecalls, the small stuff- but become confused as why life seems so hectic. But if we would only first make time for the rocks of life- God, family, friends- then everything else would just fall into place. If everything else was taken out of the jar besides the rocks, life would still have meaning. How are you filling up your jar?