Those of us who are familiar with the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey must have heard of the term "big rocks". My company is a great supporter of the Seven Habits, and I attended the course in August last year.The one thing that stood out for me was the illustration given where this lady was asked by Steve to fill a container with big rocks and tiny grains of sand. The first time around, the sand was already in the container, and she had difficulty fitting in the big rocks into them. The second time around, she was allowed to put the big rocks in first, and then she managed to squeeze all the grains of sand into the container as well.
The moral of that lesson was Habit 3: Put First Things First. The "big rocks" are what we consider to be important in life, and that should be placed into our schedules or blocked off in our diary first. The other appointments are the grains of sand that can be put in later.
Straightaway after that course, I put this into practice. Habit 2 is to "Begin With The End In Mind", and we were given an exercise to write a mission statement. My mission statement included being a loving husband and a good father, and hence the big rocks in my life include spending quality time with my wife and kids.
One big rock I have placed in my calendar each week is a lunch date with my wife. My colleagues (including my boss) know that they are not to schedule any meeting for me on Tuesdays near lunchtime because that time is set aside for my wife. Initially, some were not aware and tried to schedule meetings around then, but after I consistently and unapologetically rejected those appointments, the education process was effectively carried out and they got the message loud and clear.
Another big rock is to spend quality time with my kids. Weekends tend to be more activity-filled than weekdays for me. Yesterday, there was a PIC-CL meeting in church from 2.30pm to 4pm. From 11.30am to 2pm, I was with my daughter at Hougang Mall finalising the tshirts for her table tennis team, and buying goodies for her upcoming birthday party. From 4.30pm to 7pm, I was with my son at Serangoon Gardens Country Club having a time of bowling and bonding.
Yet another big rock for me is cell activities. The previous night (Saturday), we were the honoured guests at our previous cell 3L2's potbless, while two nights ago (Friday), our current cell 3L7 had its meeting in the home of one of our cell members. We were very encouraged because this couple are very private people, yet they trusted God to take a bold step of faith to open up their home for fellowship! God is truly doing wonders in our cell, Hallelujah!)
The "big rock principle" is based on the premise to "put first things first". As Christians, we are told by Jesus in Matt 6:33 to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all other things will be added to us.
If there was a book called "Seven Habits of the Effective Christian", then Habit 3 would be Matt 6:33, and our "Biggest Rock" would be the Rock of Ages (Isa 26:4), the Rock that is higher than I (Ps 61:2). When we put Jesus first in our life, He will fill our days with divine appointments and all that we do will prosper! Amen?
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