Balance

Do you ever think about what a gift balance is? As I’ve continued to watch my little guy learn to walk I’ve been reminded to be grateful for balance. My little guy walks around with both arms up in order to keep his balance as he continues to gain confidence in his ability to walk. He still loses his balance quite easily, whether it’s from a misstep or because he gets bumped or because he runs into something — it’s very easy for him to become unbalanced and fall over. As I was thinking about this, I started to realize that it applies to so much of life. We all need balance. When we become unbalanced, we fall down. Balance is a gift and until we’re confident in an area we tend to walk with our arms out — and even when we’re confident we still fall sometimes.

When we don’t have balance in our lives, I think it can be easy to get stuck. I know it is for me. I can get stuck eating poorly until I realize it and choose to balance my poor choices by making healthier ones. I can get stuck not reading my Bible until I realize it and choose to regain my balance and begin reading it again. I can get stuck on one negative comment or one hard day as a mama until I choose to balance it with truth. I could give many, many more examples, but I won’t for now. I think that’s the point — balance is necessary in nearly every area of our lives. From simple things to more challenging things, we all need balance.

The thing about balance is that we need to make sure that we actually have it and/or are are actually looking for it. I could tell myself that by eating one carrot I balanced out my days worth of sugar, but that wouldn’t be true and therefore wouldn’t actually be balance. We have to be honest with ourselves and honest about our situation in order to find true balance.

I also think that sometimes we need help to find our balance again. Just like my son sometimes asks for help to get back on his feet, sometimes we need to ask for help to find our balance again. There are times when we are able to use tools that we have to find our balance on our own — like when my son uses a chair to pull himself back up — and other times we need to realize that it’s time to ask for another person to give us a hand. When I think of people that can help us regain our balance, I think of a spouse, a friend, a counselor, a mentor, a pastor, a teacher, and many others. There are different people for different times of our lives and God can use any of them to help us find balance again. I have to point out that sometimes people who mean well don’t actually help us find balance, but rather continue to pull us down. This is where discernment comes in and while that can be hard at times, it is necessary in order to find healthy people to help us. We need to ask God to help us know who to ask for help.

Balance isn’t always easy to maintain and it certainly is not something I have completely figured out. I think it can be helpful to find the areas of our lives that are in need of balance and ask God to help us find it. He is always here for us and He wants to help us. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weak, off balance moments because He was tempted to lose His balance just like we are. The difference being that He never actually lost His balance. He is near to us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He is right there to help us when we find ourselves in trouble. Psalm 46:1 says, “…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” What a good and loving Father we have!

So, the next time I find an area of my life that’s imbalanced — I can already think of a couple — I pray that I would seek to regain my balance by calling out to my Father and asking Him to help. Whether He shows me a “chair” to use to help myself or shows me someone that can help me, I hope that I have the discernment and wisdom to hear His voice and follow where He leads.

Do you have areas in your life that are out of balance? I pray that as you seek Him, He would reveal to you how to find your balance again!

Song of the Week: This week I chose “Believe” by Blessing Offor because it has been a recent favorite of mine and it’s really good! Enjoy!