Balance.

I don’t know about you but the image that immediately comes to mind is a person standing perfectly still while juggling plates on their hands and feet.

In a culture inundated with success being equivalent to doing it all, it’s easy to feel frustrated when we discover that it’s a challenge to do LOTS of things well.

I know I certainly struggle in this area, especially since I became a stay-at-home mom. I tell myself that I should be able to take on all the responsibilities of a wife, mom, daughter, sister, teacher, friend, volunteer, and leader and give a hundred percent with each of them. 

However, this minor detail called life happens in the midst of these things: sickness, job loss, house renovations … you name it, right? Suddenly, I am left with no choice but to invest more time with these unexpected events and sadly, I just can’t juggle all those responsibilities so well. I have found myself feeling stressed because my mind is preoccupied and I feel spread thin.

That’s when I have been faced with the question: what is my best yes? In other words, what areas of my life am I capable of giving my best at that specific season? 

It’s such a tough question because I really want to do it all. It seems wrong not to do it all. Yet, I know in my heart that not being able to work diligently at everything I put my hands to will not bring glory to God.

So after looking at my list of responsibilities and praying, I have made the tough decision to step away from some. I have struggled with guilt and feeling lazy, but in the end, I have seen that allows me the bandwidth to do what remained and to do it well with God’s help.

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG) says, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

I pray this encourages you to find a balance with all that you’re juggling today, dear Friend. May the Lord help us all to say our best yes.
~Joyce

Photo Credit: Brook Lark on Unsplash