Failing to plan is planning to fail. Planning ahead may not seem important but even God planned before He created the world. Ephesians 1 says, “Long before God laid earth’s foundations, he had us in mind. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family. He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need.” In other words, God anticipated and made provision for every need you will ever have before you were even born because of the value/importance He placed on us.
Put First Things First
Roger McKain said, “The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.” We need to do things in order of importance! Maybe what is makes us feel empty is that in our pursuit of success we have pushed God and our families to second, third or tenth place instead of first. We have to put first things first!
Big Rocks
In his book, First Things First, Stephen Covey talks about a speaker who pulled out a wide-mouth, gallon jar along with some fist-sized rocks. He said, “How many rocks do you think I can fit into the jar?” One by one he filled the jar with rocks and said, “Is it full?” The audience said “yes,” but the speaker took out some gravel. The gravel filled the empty spaces and he said, “Is it full?” The audience caught on and said, “Probably not.” He pulled out a bucket of sand and filled the crevices left by the rocks and gravel. “Is it full”? The audience said, “No.” He pulled out a pitcher of water and poured into in the jar. The he said, “What’s the point? “ The speaker said, “The point is this: if you don’t put the big rocks in first you won’t fit them in at all.”
The big rocks are the important things. And if you don’t schedule them first, they won’t get scheduled at all. If you don’t control your calendar, your calendar will control you and once it does the enjoyable life is over.
So what do we do? Make a list of the people and things you value and once you do begin putting them your calendar in order what matters most. To enjoy and get the most out of life at the top of the list should be personal time with God and your family. Without these two being our top priority King Solomon said all would be vanity. Don’t be like the man that said he spent his entire life climbing the ladder of success to realize when he got to the top the ladder was leaning against the wrong house.