The Lesson of the Ping Pong Balls in a Jar of Rice

Aaaaaahhhhhh! The feeling of accomplishment is a feeling that can't quite be described. Maybe that' it's just that I'm too relaxed to describe it.

After all, the house is cleaned, the ironing is caught up (for now), dinner for tomorrow night is already in the crockpot, why shouldn't I be relaxed?

Part of me would like to pretend that such things happen daily here UTRTR. That the house is always spotless, the clothes are pristine and hanging in the closet, the pantry is always full, the children who reside here are always angelic, and that the Momma of this home is always calm and serene. But that isn't reality.

There are LOTS of days where everything looks and feels like it has fallen apart at the seams. There is at least one night a week where the frozen pizza is pulled out of the freezer or Momma calls Daddy and says, "It's been a long day....would you mind stopping and picking up something?"

By no means am I bragging that everything will stay exactly the way it is right now. Of course, everyone except me is fast asleep, so why shouldn't everything be in its place?

But I'm learning more and more as I get older not to value a spotless home. I'm finding beauty and value in the mess. If there is a train set on the floor, an engineer has been busy constructing and designing all day long. If a miniature guitar and harmonica are laying about, a musician has entertained us with his songs- both what he has made up and what he listens to in the car. If we're all still in our pj's and the sink is full of dishes, there's a good chance that a baby needed to be loved and snuggled all day long.

Still, there has to be some order or chaos will abound. And there are days that chaos does abound, but I have found a way to curtail the chaos.

I have discovered that time is added to my day, as well as peace, joy, contentment, when I begin the day with Jesus. Just a little time with Him makes a big difference. It sets the tone for the whole day; reading the Bible and talking to Him before I do anything else puts me in a frame of mind that, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13).

Sometimes I forget this truth, and I have to be reminded. That's where the lesson of the ping pong balls in a jar of rice comes in.

A couple of years ago, a speaker came to a MOPS group I was part of. She asked us what we did everyday. So, we began to list everything we did- laundry, grocery shopping, errands, changing babies, cleaning, reading books to our little ones, the list went on and on. As we did, she filled up a Mason jar with rice; the rice represented the 'stuff' we had to do everyday. Then she took six ping pong balls and tried to shove them in after all of the stuff. The ping pong balls represented God. The ping pong balls wouldn't fit this way. When we do all the other stuff first, there's no room for God and the stuff. But, when she dumped the rice out, and put the ping pong balls in first-which represented our time quiet time with God-  all that other stuff fit- the rice filled all the crevices around the ping pong balls and everything fit.

That's the secret! Matthew 6:33 says, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you....' Putting God first, then everything else falls into place!

I'm not enjoying the accomplishments of the past two days' housework being finished because I'm great at time management or because I'm a momma who has it all together. I am enjoying this sense of accomplishment because I invited Jesus to join me at the beginning of the day. Reading God's Word, spending time with the Creator of heaven and earth, asking for His help to be the momma and wife He has called me to be, and listening as He speaks to me through His Word- those are the things that have made yesterday and today so fulfilling. He stretched my time in ways I never imagined, and He made a way to accomplish my laundry list of items in record time-house cleaned, laundry finished, dinner on the table, children clean and fed, homeschool lessons completed.

That was not me. It was all Him.

And, because I am a flawed, forgetful human,  daily I need to be reminded of Matthew 6:33, and that's exactly what a Mason jar  filled with six Ping Pong balls, nestled in rice sitting on the shelf above my sink does.