Who's Filling You?

As seen in the HEARTbeat and Village Voice

Who’s Filling You?

            A professor stood in front of a huge class one morning.  He had a tall cylindrical vase sitting on the table.  He asked the class if it was full, discounting air, and the class responded with a “no, it’s empty.”  He reached under the table and pulled out a bag of golf balls.  He emptied the bag into the cylinder all the way to the top.  He asked again, “Is it full?”  The class quickly responded with a “yes.”  He once again reached under the table and pulled out bag of small rocks and poured the contents into the cylinder, shaking it as he did so the stones would fill it.  He asked, as he did before, “Is the cylinder full?”  With a hesitancy in their voices, the class responded with a “yes.”  The professor once again reached under the table, pulled out a bag of dry sand, and poured the contents of the bag into the cylinder, shaking it as he poured until the sand filled all the empty spots.  The students knew what question was coming next.  They must have thought, “surely the cylinder is full now.”  The question from the professor came, and the same answer came from the class, but this time with few voices.  You see, a few students were beginning to understand the professor’s point.  Lastly the professor pulled out a pitcher of water and poured its entire contents into the cylinder.  “Is it full now?” the professor asked for a final time.  Only a portion of the class answered, not knowing if the professor had something else he was going to add to the cylinder.

            The professor said, “We fill our lives with big things.  We worry about the big things in our lives and place most of our attention on them.  But there is so much more.  We forget there is always room for the smaller things in our lives, but we place the greatest importance on the big things.  He advised the students to pay attention to the details in their life, to take care of them and the “big rocks” will take care of themselves.

            God has already taken care of the big rocks in our lives.  He has provided the greatest gifts we could ever imagine.  He provided a way through which our relationship with Him can be restored, that being the offering of His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  Then He covers us with His grace and His mercy.  Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve which is eternal separation from Him because of our sin nature, and grace is giving us what we don’t deserve – His perfect love.

            Proverbs 16:9 says, “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps” (NRSV).  We plan the big rocks, but God focuses on the little things in our lives, like every step of every day.  He has a plan for our lives and already has every detail planned.

            Seek Him first, and all His righteousness, and He will make those steps stay on the straight path that leads to His wonderful presence every single day!