Living a Balanced Life

We live in a life of extremes.

Extreme sports, extreme homes, extreme food.

There's a new TV show called "Extreme Couponing." I watched several episodes. While I admired the participants amazing results it saddened me. I wish these people would spend those coupon clipping hours on a few more relationally important things. I mean, how much free deodorant can one person or family use?

It seems as if we're expected to live our lives in an all or nothing attitude.
Push, strive, succeed.
All work no play.
All play no work.

No wonder most of us live on autopilot as we frantically attempt to please someone or no one. It's too much (or too little?).

I believe that most of us rush off headlong into one of these pursuits despite our friends, family and church telling us to cool it and chill out.

Somehow it doesn't seem right to be just...satisfied. We're supposed to want more.
Do more.

Be more.

Yet the opposite is true; we're not supposed to hyperfocus on only one aspect of living. True health and vitality is composed of variety in our lives that result in balance.

Balance of rest, work, play, relationships, fun, sunshine, God, giving and receiving. Leave any component out and we're at risk of spinning out of whack.
Keep it up and we'll eventually WHACK into something.

It's hard work to rest, be content and concentrate on the right priorities. But trying to recover from imbalance is even harder.

I challenge you to invest time in people, places, and things.

TV provides all sports channels, all shopping channels, all cooking channels but
ultimately, we control the remote.

The same is true for real life.

Balance includes and involves involvement; it lets people in and lets you get off the hamster wheel of over-achievement.

If you're going to strive, strive on making your life as healthy as possible. None of this extreme stuff is ultimately going to have meaning.

After all, when your life is over, you can't take all those coupons with you.

Stuff and Nonsense

It seems to me that most of us are either getting new stuff or getting rid of old stuff. But it's all stuff, after all.

Early in my marriage, I spent lots of mental energy wishing I had and trying to get.

Now that I'm older I find I'm clearing out and giving away.

Don't get me wrong- I like stuff. I like looking at it and I like using it.

But after while it seems as if all the stuff I've ever worked for and acquired over the years is, truly, only stuff.

Last week my dear daughter Kari decided to have a garage sale. So many of us say we don't have anything to sell or don't have the time to sort through the stuff we have in order to get rid of it.

Such was not the case here. We eagerly dug through and enthusiastically donated item after item for the sale.
It surprised me to realize how few possessions were really sentimental or useful to the family. Yet most items were acquired a piece at a time, if not deliberately, then purposely welcomed into our home.

Looking at this stuff spread out on tables for the garage sale, I realized that none of those things held any meaning for us.
How when we decided to sell them we cut all emotional ties with them.
And they became stuff.

The sale went well; it was fun to watch each buyer leave happily with some of my former stuff. I was glad to see my stuff become their new prize.

But it challenged me to be mindful of the next stuff I bring into the house.
Or into my mind.
Or into my heart.

It's vital we keep perspective on what we find valuable.
And what is just stuff.

Our Lives Are Stories in the Making

When trials strike it feels like time stops.

We are numb to our experiences; tomorrow has no meaning. Sometimes all we can do is remind ourselves to keep breathing.

We've all been dealt blows that force us to curl up into a fetal position and pray it's all a bad dream.

We already know it's a nightmare.

We're shocked to discover that almost everyone else's lives go on. They can keep on with their daily routines without thinking much about it. The world is still spinning while we feel ours has stopped. Frankly, it ticks me off that the sun still rises and falls when I'm suffering.

I don't want to make light of anyone's trauma. I just want to offer this thought:

The story isn't over.

Looking back over the worst chapters in my life, I realize now that they were merely a part of where I am and who I have become.

The same is true for all of us when we reflect on our past.

If THIS hadn't happened then THAT wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't be HERE.

So let me offer hope to anyone who feels stunted or trapped by their circumstances.

God knows what He's doing even if it seems pointless. His view of us and His decisions are based on an eternal perspective. Hope says keep going. Keep the story moving forward.

Because the story is still being written.