Balance

bal·ance:  a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.

It’s a new year, it’s time for a new you. We have heard it before and perhaps some of us have been saying it. Magically hoping that this year will be the year that we find pace, balance, and time to achieve the things that we have been putting off. The change of the calendar reminds us to reprioritize our time, hobbies, and life. Life has a way of speeding up and much guiding us rather than us guiding our lives.

I get it. There are plenty of things that I have left undone, unfinished, and in a place that is considered eventually. I even get caught in the internal struggle of just wanting a break when life is busy and feeling guilty if I choose to relax because I should be getting work done. 

I even see many of our teenagers as students having a schedule that is just as tight and packed full of things to get done as adults. That’s when it happened this past week, life slowed down in my faith training class. Class was finished, I was cleaning up while my son played with two small “bugs’ that were greatly entertaining to him. Two students were still in the room and we were having the conversation about life and how it would be intensifying as break was ending. 

That is when I was reminded to pause and look at the sweet simple truth of a child being entertained by something as plain as two mechanical bugs that would move around a track. I pointed it out that he had it figured out. It reminded me of one of the most important lessons taught to me by a mentor. On the days where there is lots to be done, work hard and finish strong. But on the days where there is not much to do, go home. Love your family, be intentional, work on a hobby, and refuel. More than likely, the next day there will be plenty of work to be done again. 

James 5:13-15 says Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I am not naive to think that life always has this ebb and flow, in fact I know most times it is just relentless. But look for the simple reminders in life to remember who God is and to stop and realize that when we are still there is a simple beauty of being able to hear more. Hopefully, this will build your interest into our new series of life hacks.