Exegetical Aim: We must fill our lives with the important things first or the smaller things will overtake us.

Props: One-gallon wide-mouthed mason jar (a pickle jar would be great), a dozen fist-sized rocks, a container of gravel, a container of sand, and a container of water. I suggest you try the illustration once before doing it in front of the children. You must hide the various elements to make this illustration effective.

Lesson: Okay, time for a quiz. Put the one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar in the middle of them. Carefully place the dozen fist-sized rocks, one at a time, into the jar.

When the jar is full and no more rocks will fit inside: Is this jar full? (yes) Really? As you dump in the gravel, shake the jar causing the pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces …