Space for God

Last night at Grand Central Station the lesson was about the importance of putting God first. The leaders did an exercise with the kids in which we let a quart jar represent the child's day.

"The golf ball is God" was what the leader said. I groaned a bit inwardly, thinking that the Sunday morning golfers probably agreed with her. But she was asking the kids to let the golf ball represent God, and she told each of the groups to put their golf ball into the jar.



Next the leader asked the young people to let a bunch of small stones represent the big things in their day, school, homework, tests, chores, after-school activities, etc. The groups each put the stones into the jar with the golf ball.



Finally the leader asked the young people to let a pound of rice represent all the other stuff in their day. The groups poured the rice into the jars and there was still space at the top of the jar.



Next the leader asked the young people to empty the jars and separate the ingredients. They put the rice into the jars first, then the stones, and then the golf ball. There was not enough space this time, even though we lost more than a few grains of rice in the process.

The group I was watching had to make two tries before they could even get the golf ball to sit on top of the jar.

File under : Central Presbyterian Church, Christian education