Wed., Jan. 2, 2019

Isaiah 40:12 –  Who has measured the waters in the palm of a hand or gauged the heavens with a ruler or scooped the earth’s dust up in a measuring cup or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills in a balance?

Balance. We toss this word around with ease and casualness.

But balance is anything but ease.

For the last oh, 20 years of my life, I’ve committed annually to find more balance in my life. My experience of finding balance?

It hasn’t happened.

I applaud those people who seem to have balance in their lives. You know the ones: everything just put together, always a step ahead of the game and never frazzled.

This is so not my world.

Yes, I feel things are at times when my life is more inline than other times. But true balance?

Nada.

What is balance? It’s that point on the scale where there is equal amount of weight on either side of the median point. Everything seems just right.

The challenge with balance? Just a slight shift or a touch more weight on one side and the scale quickly becomes unbalanced. In fact, the scale can seemingly become unbalanced when nothing really happened.

If this is the definition of balance, I’ve failed miserably. In true honestly, this isn’t exactly the balance I yearned for. I just wanted a little less going at 100/MPR all the time and more opportunity to regroup. Be. Enjoy. My idea of balance has been trying to make time for the things that are seemingly “important” to me.

But seldom, does this happen. Sometimes by my choice. Other times, by things out of my control. I feel like I just can’t seem to achieve the balance I think I want.

So, this year, I’m not striving for balance. I’m taking a different approach.

When a person tries to follow God’s plan for their life, seldom does the path go as expected or anticipated. When we listen for God in our lives, the road usually isn’t straight and flat. God’s path often includes a lot more curves, bumps and speed bumps along the way. Sometimes, I feel like I’m just trying to hang on and not get thrown over the edge of a cliff.

Hardly balance.

So, instead of balance, I’m taking the “listen” approach. Listen before engaging. Listen before doing. Listen and pausing before automatically saying “yes.”

This may mean saying “no” to something that I think is important. It means letting things fall to the wayside. It means I may have even less balance in my life.

I’m ready for a new approach. You know the old Einstein saying: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is called insanity.”

Insanity. No balance there.

Time for a new approach. Let insanity. More listening.

For opportunities to try new approaches, I am grateful.

Lord God – I pray that each day, I will pause and find peace in you. Opportunities to listen and be guided. Not afraid to explore new ways so I can eliminate just a bit of insanity in my life. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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