The Big Rocks

Suzanne and I were talking this morning and we both agreed that we are simply feeling too rushed lately. We feel like we are running from one thing to another and are constantly feeling the stress of that and also I feel like we are being harder on the kids than we need to be because it too often feels like we are behind and need to go, go , go and the kids don't always feel the same way. They are usually seen as too slow, slow, slow. Homework needs to be done, shoes tied, baths given, errands run, etc and before you know it you find yourself shouting at a kid that is just being a kid or a wife that is trying her best to keep up.

A friend once passed along the organization principle to me of putting your "Big Rocks" in first, which means basically that you plan your week out and ensure that you make time for the most important "rocks" or things in your life and let the other stuff (the smaller rocks) fill in the cracks between the big rocks as space allows. Instead of letting the opposite happen, too often I let all of the little rocks just get dumped in and then my bucket can't hold the most important rocks or out of laziness I fill my bucket up with often meaningless things like too much TV, my Crackberry or countless other time fillers that really don't amount to much of anything.
The sad part too is that the things that get left out are usually the things that make a life meaningful. It seems that if I want to have a meaningful life with a better pace to it then I need to do what is counter intuitive when it feels like there is a time crunch. I need to slow down and ask myself a few questions like, "Am I spending time in my Bible, talking with Him, being helpful to my wife, what am I accomplishing here?" It would seem to me that as life picks up speed and you add more kids and more sports and more whatever committees and more volunteering and the fly wheel really starts to spin and momentum starts to build we need to hunker down with the one who knows us best and who really is the only one who can make our life meaningful. We need to inch our way back to the center of the wheel, not allow ourselves to get spun farther and farther out.

 That is what Jesus did. Just when things seemed to really be turning the corner and more and more people were listening and momentum was building and people were wanting to do things like crown him king, he would  head for the hills or make a left instead of a right or cross to the other side of the lake to get away and be with his father. To listen to him, to be filled by him and to get put back on track. I don't do that enough. Too often I flop right onto the couch to watch the TV or raise my voice or crack open a cold beverage, when what I really need to do is check in with the one who made me. Maybe I need to go to bed a little earlier and get up a little earlier. Put the big rocks in first and let the smaller rocks fill in where they will. Listen for His voice amidst all the other roaring voices that clammer for my attention and distract me daily.
I think if I can do that I will be a better dad, husband, boss and friend and I am pretty sure I will enjoy the ride a good bit more. Blessings...