The Big Jar and The Not So Big Life

He stood before the group with this huge jar on a table in front of him. He is a small, Yoda-type, wise and funny. He grabbed a bag and struggled to place in on the table then lifted one large rock after another and put them in the jar. When the jar was full he looked at us and said, 'Is it full?' We all concluded that is was indeed full.
He reached for another bag, tipped it over the jar and out poured gravel. It came to the very brim of the jar. 'Is it full?' Some were skeptical but most of us said, sure, it is full.
He reached for another bag and this time a river of sand poured out and settled among every crevice between the large rocks and the gravel. 'Is it full?' Ha! - we're clergy, not some dummies who fell off the turnip truck! Can't fool us more than twice! 'No' we said.
Sure enough, Yoda pulls out a pitcher of water and pours it carefully until the jar was brimming. Is it full now? Well, of course, water displaces everything.
So, says the wise one, what is the lesson you have learned?
No matter how full you think your schedule is, there is always room for something else.
Yoda shook his head. 'No, my friends. The lessons is that unless you put the big stuff in first there will never be room for it'.

I am reading a book called, The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka. Sarah is an architect and uses architecture as a metaphor for building the kind of life you want to inhabit. I am conscious of all that I make room for in my life, either by design or default. But can and do I make room for what really matters? Is more and bigger always better? What is the worldview that undergirds the assumption that all that is worthwhile comes through adding up our achievements?

I am wanting to spend more time examining the assumptions of my worldview. The not-so-big life may be the place where God resides and is waiting for me to discover it and live there, too.