Rubber balls and glass balls—we all juggle both kinds. The trick is to not let the glass balls drop, and to keep picking up the rubber ones that do.
Life is full of so much stuff: important stuff, fun stuff, hard stuff, and inconsequential stuff. One key to happiness is learning where to put our focus. There is always good, better, and best.
In life we have balls to juggle that are rubber and others that are glass.
A few months ago, I was sitting in the temple one evening waiting for my turn to do iniatories. The former temple matron sat next to me, waiting for her turn too. We chatted for a minute about our families and how I have young kids. She was grateful to see me there and said she feels how one of Satan’s lies is the phrase “there’s a time and season” for everything. That really struck me! Yes in some seasons of life we may gravitate towards focusing on other things more, or it may be easy to do certain things less which is completely okay, but we are all given the same amount of time, and the agency to choose what we do with it—we can still make time for the glass balls we juggle.
As Ezra Taft Benson has said, “when we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.”
I love the object lesson with the sand and the rocks in the jar. When the sand (the rubber balls) is dumped in first and the rocks (the glass balls) on top, the jar overflows and it doesn’t all fit. But, when the rocks are placed in first, the sand fills the crevices and it all fits in the jar.
Everyone’s glass and rubber balls may look a little different, and some balls may need to be reevaluated as our lives change.
Elder Oaks states: “we have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”
Nobody is perfect. We will all drop many balls along the way, maybe perhaps the glass ones sometimes. However, instead of with glue, those are repaired with the atonement of Jesus Christ. He knows our hearts, and our shortcomings and our weaknesses. As long as we keep trying to better our juggling act, we will progress and become more like Him, which is ultimately God’s purpose.
Jessica Dyer currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where her husband is pursuing a PhD in Accounting at UNC and is loving all of the great sunshine and basketball that Chapel Hill has to offer. She is a mom to two cute little kids and to one angel baby. She graduated from BYU in English Language and Editing but has had the opportunity right now to be at home with the kids and is loving all the crazy and fun that comes with that.
