Out Our Way: Parable of the pickle jar

Out our way, Goliath has managed to attract a number of fans over the years. We've heard from folks in Canada, California, Georgia, and just recently in Florida. One of his fans, who lives in Arizona and used to think I was cute many years ago, sent us a great little piece from the internet called "The Parable of the Pickle Jar." I shared it with my folks at the Presbyterian last week and now Goliath thought I should share it with you as well.  (That old hay burner, always thinking of others except when he gets scared by light in a puddle or having to cross a tiny culvert.)

Anyway, the story goes like this.  A philosophy professor at some college came to class with a large, empty pickle jar.  He set it on his desk and reached into his bag and began to fill the jar with golf balls. When no more would fit he asked the class if they agreed the jar was full.  They did. Then he reached under his desk and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He carefully spooned the small rocks in and they were actually able to find room between the golf balls. "Now is the jar full," he asked. Again the class agreed it was.

Then he reached under his desk and pulled out another bucket - this was filled with sand. Carefully he poured the sand in and amazingly there was still enough room for it all. "Is it full?" Everyone agreed it was indeed full. Then he reached down and pulled out a bottle of chocolate milk - and poured that into the jar as well.

Finished, he sat on his desk next to the pickle jar and told his students they had just witnessed a parable on successful living.   "The empty jar is your life. The golf balls represent the truly important things - your family, your health, your faith, your joy.   The gravel represents the other important things in life - your job, your school, your social standing in the world and so forth. The sand is all the minutia - the little things in life that aren't really all that important.

"Notice the order in which I put things into the jar. Suppose I had begun with the sand instead of the golf balls. Once the sand filled the jar, there would be no room to fit anything else in.   Therefore understand that PRIORITIES are important. If you let the sand fill up your life, there will be no room for anything else."

Jesus put it this way, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all else will be added to you." The Kingdom of God is getting right with God and with your neighbor. When asked what was the greatest commandment of them all, Jesus answered, "There are two. You shall love the Lord Your God with all your mind, body and soul; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." If we focus on these two things, everything else will fall into place. As one famous Rabbi said of the great commandment, "all the rest is just commentary."

Oh, one last thing. Remember the chocolate milk? A student asked why the professor had added that to the mixture, and the prof grinned and said, "No matter how full your life is, remember there's always room for chocolate."

Goliath didn't get it, but I assured him you would.    Blessings!

(John Bruington and Goliath serve First Presbyterian Church of Havre. They can be reached at  [email protected]. "Out our Way" columns, the "Bruin Town Children Tales" and the weekly sermons are also available at http://www.havrepres.org.)