Big Rocks

Big Rocks - Jan 31, 2012

Disclaimer: This is going to be somewhat personal. I’m going to attempt to share some of my internal hopes and dreams for the next 12 months. I’m not sure if this format is the right place to do it, but I feel compelled to put it out there. Maybe those who read this will, not only get to know me a little differently, but will also hold me accountable.

I used to have in my bag of tricks a children’s sermon that I could use with a minimal amount of preparation. It dates back to my time in the group “Son’s Reflections” – a group of college students that traveled around to small rural churches in central Nebraska offering to lead worship in exchange for a meal.

The children’s message went like this. I would have two glass jars (the size of spaghetti sauce), several large rocks, and some rice. The glass jar represented our day (finite and limited) and the rice represented the things we chose to spend our time on. I would ask the children to list the things that they do each day and we would pour rice into one of the jars. If it was something they did a lot of (sleep, eat, watch tv) we would put a lot of rice in – until the jar was full. Then I would say that we forgot some pretty important things. These were the big rocks. They represented things like prayer and bible study, worship and thanksgiving. And since we tried to put them in the jar last, they didn’t fit – like trying to fit in a quick prayer at the end of the day. So then I took the other jar and put the big rocks in first. And then we poured the rice around them and it all fit in. The point was that if you take the time to do the important things, i.e. the “big rocks” first you would still have time for the other parts of your day. If you waited until the end to put the “big rocks” in  then there simply wouldn’t be enough time. It was an exercise in priorities and I thought I was very clever (although I’m not sure how effective the lesson really was with small kiddos!).

At the risk of revealing the true depth of my dorkiness, I have always like this idea of big rocks. (And I’ll admit – I was greatly influenced by Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” which I read during my freshman year of college. Covey outlines the practice of “sharpening your saw” as the big rocks. If you really want to know the depths of my Covey admiration, just ask Meg about the 3X5 note card I used to always carry in my back pocket when we first started dating!).

I have four big rocks: Physical, Mental, Social/Emotional, and Spiritual that I find important to think about and prioritize and set goals and live into on a regular basis. This past Sunday (January 29^th) was the annual meeting of Community Presbyterian Church…and I usually use the annual meeting of the church as an excuse to re-examine my big rocks for the coming year. So here are my big rocks for Feb 1, 2012 through Jan 31, 2013.

Big Rock Number 1: Physical – The bottom line is – I need to lose some weight by exercising more because I feel so much better and have more energy when I do. The reality is this: As I get closer to 40, I’ve noticed that my metabolism continues to slow down. And given the history of heart disease and diabetes in my family of origin, I need to make the number on the scale go down a bit.

            When I have run on a regular basis, I have greatly enjoyed it. The “runner’s high” is real and after about 3-4 weeks of running I feel really good. So my goals for the next 12 months are to run more. Specifically to commit to running in a few road races. I think the time is right to train for a ½ marathon. I am going to run a 5K in May in May (Med City 5K in Rochester on May 26), and 10K in June (Circle of Life 10K in Lake City on June 23^rd) and the ½ Marathon in August (Saturday, August 25^th – Rochester). They are close so I might as well.

            And I will specifically target weight loss early in the running plan so that I can reach my target weight by my brother-in-law’s wedding at the end of June.

Big Rock Number 2: Mental – Reading keeps me sharp. My goal for 2012 is to read 20 books. 4 each in the topics of Family Systems, Leadership, Preaching, Theology, and Young Adult/Fantasy (hey – Harry Potter can preach as well!). I’m still putting together my list but I did get 3 books on Family Systems and John Maxwell’s “Put Your Dream to the Test” from Amazon recently.

Big Rock Number 3: Social/Emotional – This big rock has always been the hardest for me to be specific about (you can insert your own joke about my emotional health being the hardest for me to maintain) because after work and family obligation I find it challenging to make time for this. I know that folks at church become friends and time with family is good for emotional health…but I’ve never found the best way to articulate this in a goal form. My initial thoughts for the next 12 months include connecting with my family. I’ve recently gotten interested in genealogy and I would like to take advantage of technology (like Skype) to connect with my extend family and learn some of the history of my people. I would also like to continue to open myself up to new friendships in Plainview and at Community Presbyterian Church. And somehow I think learning how to fish (since I’m in the land of 10000 lakes!) would be good for my emotional health…

Big Rock Number : Spiritual – This is one of my favorite “rocks” to spend time with. As I continue to grow in God’s grace, I will continue to commit to a life of daily prayer, using the first 30 minutes of each work day to ground myself in prayer in the beautiful sanctuary of Community Presbyterian Church. Some days I skip this because I feel to busy, and it affects my psyche. I would also like to figure out some way for me to engage in some form of personal bible study that is not just preparing to preach. Now that I am preaching every Sunday, I am reading more commentaries and delving deeper into the scriptures…but it is all a part of sermon prep. It seems to me that I need something more, or different at least. And finally, I feel compelled to once again start engaging the psaltar, my favorite book of the bible. I want to memorize 12 Psalms in the next 12 months.

In a couple of weekends I will be sitting down with the elders and deacons of Community Presbyterian Church for a leadership retreat and a time of strategic planning. I hope that we will be able to talk about the “big rocks,” the important things at Community Presbyterian Church that we need to focus on in the near and long-term future. I’m sure more will be said about that soon.

Thanks for reading!

Pastor John