Don't Quit on the Big Rocks
by Travis Runion
Sunday, January 19 marked an important day in America. It’s not a federal holiday and nothing was noted in any of your new 2020 calendars, but it was a day of significance nonetheless.
The third Sunday every January is our annual “Quitter’s Day.” This is the day that most Americans decide to quit on their New Year’s Resolutions and goals.
So where are you in all this? Are you holding strong to your goals and resolutions? Have you already bailed on them? Maybe you just avoid the potential for failure and just skip the goal-setting process altogether. I want to encourage you that there are some key areas of life so important that we can’t afford to ignore, neglect or quit on them.
A few months ago, we produced a short video segment with Ed Sweeny called “The Big Rocks Challenge” (view above). Ed demonstrated what typically happens when we follow our desires first, pursue secondary time-wasters, then work frantically to take care of the urgent and mandatory tasks of life. In the end, we typically don’t have enough room left in our schedule for the important things of life - spiritual growth, personal wellness, marriage, parenting, community and stewardship.
In contrast, when we put the big rocks in the jar first and give them the foremost priority in our schedule, our attention, and our wallet; everything else seems to fit, even some of those time-wasting yet entertaining distractions (ie - pretty much anything related to a screen on a device).
This illustration originally came from the book “First Things First” by renowned productivity and self-help expert, Stephen Covey. After demonstrating the object lesson in a class of high-achievers, Covey asked the class, “What is the point of this illustration?”
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!”
“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
Stephen Covey - “First Things First”
That’s the point we need make sure we take away here. “If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.” It’s true, the worries and urgencies of life will never leave room for anything else. They are consuming and never-ending.
We see here the wisdom of Jesus from His sermon on the mount. After telling the people not to store up treasures on earth but in heaven, not to be enslaved to money, and not to worry about food and clothing, he concludes by saying,
‘Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.’ (Matthew 6:33 NLT)
Side note: We used to sing the KJV version of that verse in rounds back in Sunday school and even at our FCA huddle meeting at Clemson. It might sound corny and elementary now to our “refined” worship styles, but it was meaningful and worshipful back then.
If you remember it, sing it with me…
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Al-le-lu-Allelujah
So, to expand on that idea and to present some practical ideas on how you can put the big rocks in first, we are going to take the next six blog posts to focus on one of the “big rocks.”
For now, we encourage you to take the time to watch the Big Rocks Challenge video and ask yourself the following questions:
1. Which of the six big rocks don’t fit in my jar right now?
2. What is the long term result of consistently leaving these rocks out?
3. What would it look like to put those in first?
4. What would be the long term benefit of consistently giving these areas first priority in my life?