balance

my shoulders shrugged.

i let out a sign of relief.

comfort came and sat on my lap.

the words were soothing to my ears and quickly trickled down to my hurried, discombobulated heart.

it might has well have been a shoulder massage with lavender oils.

it felt that good.

that good to hear that balance is a myth. that a balanced life is a lie.

what?

there’s no such thing as balance?

but aren’t we suppose to find balance between rest and routine?

isn’t there suppose to be this balance between activities and downtime?

aren’t we all striving to find balance? doesn’t this make us a holistic person?

but she spoke this and it brought calm to my heart.

she was speaking as if Christ Himself was rubbing my shoulders with this comfort.

 life ebbs and flows. {kay warren} that’s not balance.

balance is keeping it all even. life is not even.

kay went on to say that there are moments all throughout our days, all throughout seasons where someone needs us more or something demands more of our attention.

and balance goes out the door. it never should have been let in. for balance tries to keep everyone happy and life as smooth as possible. that’s what drives us all crazy. not life itself, but trying to balance and perfect it all.

Authors of the one thing, gary keller and jay papasan, write, “to achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands.”

us, females, believe the myth that we can handle equal tasks at home, at church, at work, and in the community. but you and i both know that there are times that our child needs us more than the church does and we must say no to things. other times our marriage is screaming for some space and we must turn down weeknight activities. this is the ebb and flow that kay warren describes.

this practical truth of helping the child in need and letting the others play independently. a choice of setting the season out of activity 'a' so that activity 'b' can succeed. a lifestyle shift so that what really matters gets attention and being mentally okay to set other things aside.

what needs your attention right now? what needs to be set aside so that it gets your focus?

i’ve driven me and my older son mad the past few weeks trying to work on his state report while teaching my youngest to read and checking out spy hideouts with my middle son. i was trying so ridiculously hard to find this balance. now that I live out of an ebb and flow, my two younger sons know that my focus for the next three days is with their big brother. we all want to see him do well on his state report. after that, I’ll see what needs picking up again.

i bring us back to keller and papasan. “start leading a counterbalanced life. let the right things take precedence when they should and get to the rest when you can.”

now...wasn’t that a nice shoulder massage? relax. balance is gone. embrace the ebb and flow as it comes.