One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and to drive home a point used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group high powered overachievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz."

Then he pulled out a one gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced a dozen fist sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, "is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and gravel. Once again he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager student 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 in 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 first, you'll never get them in at all." What are the big rocks in your life? Your children, your loved ones, your friends, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, doing things you love, your health, your faith, time for yourself. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you'll fill your life with little things you worry about that don't really matter and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big important things (the big rocks). So today when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself, "What are the big rocks in my life?" Then put them first.

Thank you Wendy. Definitely my family is one of my most precious "Big Rocks."