What matters to you? For me, the answer is simple: other than my relationship with God, my family matters most to me. To get more specific, how I guide my kids through the gauntlet of child-and-teenhood is of utmost importance to me during these brief years. And that sounds great, right? Many of us might say the same. But the thing is, I get so distracted by all the good/interesting/fun/educational/creative/ministerial things I could be doing that I forget to keep my priorities straight. Like the raccoon who can’t extricate his arm from a trap because he’s clinging to the shiny bit of tinfoil, I can hang on to activities or ideas I think are good even when they’re causing me to neglect the “main things” in my life. A wise woman, teacher, and author, Sally Clarkson writes about the temptation for moms to get distracted by all sorts of things and forget to mother according to their most cherished ideals. She reminds us that we only have a few big rocks (main things) we need to fit into the jars of our lives, but many little ones (everything else). If we put the little rocks in first, you guessed it, there’s no longer room for the big rocks. I don’t know what your big rocks are, or even if you’re a mother with kids in the home. But I’d like to encourage you (and myself) that whatever matters most to you, whatever you know-as-you-know should be a the top of your life list, focus on that. Give it priority, keep it out in front of you. Don’t get distracted. In the end, I think we’ll all be glad we kept the main things the main thing.
Praying With One Eye Open 