When I say “eggs in a jar,” what do you think of?
Pickled eggs you say… Well, I think of irrational religious speeches. That’s because for a number of years while living in a certain state I heard this story over and over again, and it always started with “If you take a large jar, and place a few eggs in it, is it full?”
The story sometimes uses pebbles, sometimes golf balls, but it always has the same message, that when church and family come first everything else falls into place:
A science professor set a large jar on his lab table in front of the class. He took some big rocks and began filling the jar. When they were to the very top, he asked the class if the jar was full. The class responded ‘yes.’ The professor then took some smaller pebbles and started pouring the pebbles into the jar. The pebbles began falling down and filling in between the much larger rocks balls. When the jar was filled to the top with the pebbles, he asked the class if the jar was full. The class was a smart class. They caught on quickly. ‘No,’ they said. And the professor then began to take some sand and pour it into the jar filling the jar to the top. He then asked the class, ‘What do you think I was teaching you by this little demonstration?’ The class responded, ‘That there is always room for more.’ ‘No,’ the professor responded. ‘What I am trying to teach you is that you have to put your biggest things in first or there won’t be room for them later on. You can squeeze your smaller things around your bigger things, but you can’t squeeze your bigger things around your smaller things.’ There’s always room for the smaller things in life, but not always room for the bigger things if you’ve already put the smaller things in first.
I picked up the story from the United Church of Christ, Wheaton, IL, but it can be heard in places of worship for many denominations. The science teacher in this story is probably named to be a science teacher only for the purpose of giving more validity to the story. A science teacher who teaches creationism may tell the eggs in a jar story but that still doesn’t mean it’s anything more than religious talk. In all honesty, a true science teacher should be able to tell us that under regular conditions (on earth, on your kitchen counter, at room temperature, etc) the volume (how much space is occupied) inside the jar is always the same no matter what we put in it. The jar doesn’t make more room for junk, but rather the items we put in the jar adjust their position to fit in the alloted space volume.
In fact, another website says the philosophy teacher (this time) placed golf balls in the jar and then pebbles and shook the jar. Aha! Take note of this, he shook the jar. Shaking the jar allowed the pebbles to displace air bubbles created between the golf balls. Then he put in sand and shook again. Aha! There’s that shaking thing again… which adjusted the positioning of the pebbles and sand and allowed them to come closer together and close some of the space gaps.
So I’d like to put a twist on this story: We may start with a little golf in the morning, or some volleyball sand in our socks after work. However, if we make the right adjustments in our lives, and shake that jar well to eliminate the unused space, we can fit in family, church and hobbies. The available volume is all the same (24 hours per day, 7 days per week, etc, up to an average life span of 70 years let’s say), and it’s not only about the order in which we fill it in, but it’s also about how the items fit together, and the adjustments we need to make for our own jar to fit the elements together.
How does our religious sermon conclude?
Jesus doesn’t get sidetracked by a lot of little laws. He sticks to the basics – love God, love your neighbor. I think Jesus wants us to know that the priorities in our lives have to do with relationships — relationship with God, our relationships with one another. Those are the big chunks to put in the jar before we put anything else in.
Well that’s convenient, our science teacher’s story ends with Jesus. Sounds more like alchemy to me, put a little Jesus, a little love, a little family and a little sand in a jar, and we get Heaven!
To be realistic, in life we define our priorities and priorities always change and adjust just as humans do. There is no alchemy formula to having a great life, people have to figure out for themselves what makes them feel their life is full. I say, put things that fit together in the jar, shake it up to make more room, and take something out if it doesn’t fit with your jar and the rest of the items. It’s ideal to love family, but if you have an abusive uncle, ban him from the jar. Each person should decide on their own what the most important things in life are. If you put those in first, you may have less shaking to do, but I’ll wager some shaking will have to happen no matter what.
If love for Jesus fits in your jar put it in there, and dump some sand on it if you wish. But don’t be scared of putting things in the jar because you might get the wrong order. Just remember to give it a shake every now and then, and discard what doesn’t fit. Keep your jar full, and be smart, be brave, be responsible.
(for me having tagged him a few weeks back).
…the Atheist and Agnostic blogging community, aka 
We always talk about health care being expensive in America, but we rarely put a price around health care. Mostly, those of us who write about expensive health care are insured… so we pay our $20 copay and the true cost of health care rarely hits home.
