Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living without Time Regrets” by Dr. If you could only accomplish three things before you die, what would those things be? Your answer to that question will give you a good idea about what the big rocks are in your life. You have to figure out what the big rocks are in your life. Perhaps it is nurturing friendships or an intimate relationship with God. What is most important in your life? It may be a fulfilling marriage or good health, or a great relationship with your family, or expertise in your vocation. Of course, before we can fill our calendars and our lives with our big rocks, we have to identify what those big rocks are. They allowed their life and their schedule to be filled with sand and gravel rather than with the things that were really important to them. You know what most people regret about their time when they come to the end of their lives? They regret that they never made time for the big rocks. Now, that is the single most important lesson we can learn about using our time well. The point is this: had I not put the big rocks in first, I never would have been able to fit them in later.” Then the instructor said, “What is the principle about time that I am trying to teach you?” One guy raised his hand and said, “You can always jam more things into your schedule.” The instructor said, “No, that’s not the lesson. He poured the water into the jar, and it filled up the empty places. He said, “Good!” And he pulled out a quart of water. He said, “Is the jar full?” The students were smart by this time. The sand filled in the spots left by the rocks and the gravel. He said, “Is the jar full?” They said, “Probably not.” He said, “Good!” Then he picked up a bucket of sand and poured it into the jar. He poured the gravel into the jar, and it filled up all the places left by the rocks. He said, “Ah.” Then he picked up a bucket of gravel. He said, “Do you think the jar is full?” The students said yes. He asked the students, “How many rocks do you think I can put into this jar?” They shouted out different numbers, and he said, “Let’s see how many rocks we can put in this open jar.” And he put the rocks in one by one until he had filled up the jar.

The instructor had a gallon jar and pulled out a platter of large rocks. Stephen Covey tells about an associate who went to a time-management seminar.

One principle is the lesson of the big rocks. How do you reclaim and redeem the limited time that God has granted you here on earth? This week you will learn important principles for living without time regrets. Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise.

Big rocks stephen covey