Rocks, Gravel, Sand

A teacher put a large jar on her desk and next to it a bag of rocks. She filled the jar with the rocks. When she was done, she asked the class if the jar was full.

“Yes,” they declared.

The teacher took out a sack of gravel and dumped it into the jar, filling the spaces between the rocks. “Is the jar filled now?” she asked.

“Yes,” the students responded.

The teacher then brought a bag of sand and poured it into the jar, shaking it until the spaces between the rocks and gravel were filled. “What life lesson can we learn from this?” she asked.

One student said, “No matter how full your life seems, you can always take on a little more.”

“A fair interpretation,” the teacher said, “but maybe there’s another lesson.”

She emptied the jar and asked the student to fill it again, instructing him to put the rocks in last. No matter how hard he tried, they wouldn’t fit.

“The lesson is,” the teacher said, “if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in.” She explained that the big rocks are the important things in life: family, friends, personal growth, helping others. If we fill our lives with only small stuff, we’ll never have enough room for the matters that make our lives worthy and worth living.

This is an important life lesson. We all can live fuller and more fulfilling lives if we set priorities and pay more attention to our choices. What are we spending our time and money on? Who gets our best attention? Who gets the leftovers? Unless we consciously distinguish between rocks, gravel, and sand in our lives, we’re likely to neglect or forget the things that really matter.