My Balancing Act

I've been learning a profound lesson lately.

And those kind of lessons can be hard.

For me.

I've been learning about how I define balance.

You see,

I really like having balance in my life.

In times of change.

Transition.

Even great challenge.

I always felt that if I balanced key things in my life.

My physical.

With my spiritual.

And emotional.

I could maneuver well through whatever life threw at me.

Your balancing list will look different from mine.

Mine looked like this.


Spend time with Jesus.
Read my bible & pray every day.
Make time for my husband and my family.
Walk 3-4 times a week.
Go to the gym twice a week.
Keep the agency running smoothly at work.
Eat healthy.
Keep my house clean & my laundry processed.
Get plenty of sleep.
Blog or work on my mosaics.
Serve at church.
Be intentional about time with my friends.


If I kept my balance.

If I kept my list balanced.

That was a good thing.

But, if I didn't keep it all balanced,

If I didn't keep everything on my list balanced......

Yeah.

You see where I'm headed.

That's really kind of messed up.

And it was inevitable.

That my way of looking at balance would eventually end up in the ditch.

For me,

it was just usual life stuff.

Challenge and transition at work.

My oldest getting married and moving to the other side of the country.

My nineteen year old moving back home and commuting to school.

Thinking about selling our house.

Missing a few weeks of exercise and the gym.

Doing an illegal u-turn on a busy road and wrecking my car.

And before I knew it,

My balance seemed to be lost.

Sigh.

But.

Truth be told.

And here comes my lesson learning.

"I" am not the source of my balance.

"My" ability to keep all my plates spinning is terribly inadequate.

Things happen.

Things will always happen.

I don't keep my balance by doing a specific list of things.

I keep my balance by allowing Him to lead my life.

All the areas of my life.

The relational.

The physical.

My work.

Any change that's made in where I live.

My health.

My workouts.

The lives of my children.

All of it.

Trying to maintain balance has been exhausting for me.

And I've only recently even realized just how tired I am.

So.

Thankful for a hard lesson.

I am learning.

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives.
Though they stumble, they will never fall,
for the Lord holds them by the hand."

Psalm 37:23-24.