Balance

Many of us spend our days feeling driven by the almost impossible demands of our lives. More than two thousand years before email, social networking, cell phones, and carpools, the Greek philosopher Socrates said, “Beware the barrenness of the busy life.” Joy withers in our lives when we are too busy. Too often we overestimate the amount of time we have to do a task and underestimate the amount of time it’s actually going to take to do that task. We end up slaves to commitments we’ve made, saying yes to all the wrong things, leaving ourselves with no time or energy to say yes to the people closest to us.

When we’re trying to make time for coffee with friends, playing games with our family, we can’t because we have too much to get done. When our husbands give us that look, we say no because we’re just too tired. When a friend needs a listening ear, we’re distracted because we have to get back to the office. When we feel a tug to pray about something we heard in church that morning, we forget it on the way to the grocery store. We’ve given ourselves to pursuits that seem important and left the people closest to us longing for relationship.

Yes, there are unusual seasons of busyness, but it’s far too easy to let a season become a pattern. What becomes a pattern becomes a way of life. And a busy way of life robs us of joy.

In Psalm 127:2, we read, “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.” {NLT} I don’t completely understand this verse because I have yet to wake up in the morning and find that everything got done while I was sleeping! But I know the point is that it is self-defeating to work morning and night, pushing because we think that if something is not done everything will fall apart, and then fall into bed so exhausted that we can’t sleep.

Busyness fills a schedule, but it fractures a family. It can rob us of joy.

Since I am no longer working outside the home I do not have as quite the ‘busy’ life, that I used to. Although there are some days I still find myself running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. There is a feeling of a too busy ‘doing’ life and not busy ‘being‘ life. I knew then that I needed to have a heart-to-heart with God about why I felt so driven, to recognize the brevity of life and slow down the pace. Our lives are filled to the brim and overflowing with the richness of relationships; the bond of love that comes from walking in the way of faith with a determination to live deep instead of fast. Peace instead of the rat race.

The antidote to busyness is balance.

Of course, every season of life has limitations, as well as unique opportunities, whether you have toddlers at home, an empty nest, a full-time job, or health concerns related to age. Yet we go through life acting as if life is not changing at all. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. {NIV}  In truth, we need to be constantly adjusting our schedule and priorities based on the season of life we’re in. Part of being balanced is knowing what season of life you’re in and adjusting for it.

At the end of my life, I want to be pleased with the decisions I made about the time that was given to me. More importantly, I want God to be pleased! The key is to yield control of our brief span of time to him daily, keeping in mind that depth, not speed, is the truest measure of a balanced life.

Blessings