The Marble Jars ~ A Great "TIME" Visual!

**For starters, please forgive the pictures.  Most were taken in low lighting, hoping for the best, and trying not to disturb people in The VBS Family Room.  I believe they will still be a great "TIME" visual.

The story of the marble jars did not begin with me.  This was an idea that our church's Kids Ministry workers learned about at a Kids Conference that they attended.  It's a great visual to help us realize the time that we have with our children.  Time to influence them towards all that is good in the world.  Time to influence them for CHRIST.

For the purposes of visual display in The VBS Family Room, 19 jars were used (Birth-age 18).  If you wanted to make jars to represent your child's life, you only need one jar per child.

At the time they are born, fill the jar with 936 marbles.  [Marble SOURCE]  Each marble represents a week in your child's life... up until the age of eighteen.  Look how full the jar is.  Makes you think of all of the wonderful ways that you can influence your child, being a Godly example to them, right?

As each week passes, remove a marble.  Wow, by the age of ten, you "only" have 416 weeks left with your child!  Where has that time gone?  We all hope to raise our children well.  This really shows us how quickly time passes, and makes us realize how valuable FAMILY TIME is.

Keep removing marbles.  One a week.  By age seventeen, only 52 marbles remain.  HOW HAVE WE GOTTEN here?  When your kids are little, and older folks say to cherish the TIME, there's no way we could have possibly understood.  But now... well... are you getting the visual?

By age eighteen, our child is potentially moving off to college, or to a place of their own.  Potentially.  It's possible that our time with them is over -- or at the most, just random.

How will you spend your TIME today?

Yesterday, I read Laura's story about her family's quest for more time together.  (How timely!)  You can find it HERE.  It's truly inspiring!