Having trouble balancing the demands of life? Not enough time to do the things you believe are important? Getting stressed out cause you have to juggle too much stuff?
Do you think there’s a trick to make things ‘work’?
Balancing life is usually a question that implicitly reveals what we truly value as individuals.
Different people in different stages of life will value different things and therefore seek a ‘balance’ that fits their lives.
Invariably we exist in some kind of tension because we can’t seem to get the right mix. There’s always something (or someone) increasing the demand for time.
But does finding a healthy balance in life consist of doing more of what we think is 'important'?
Recently at a brunch with one of our Calgary Church groups we discussed balancing life and came up with some good thoughts.
Firstly, like it or not, life isn’t static.
We may have static ‘wants’ such as the right amount of time with family, a house, a job, playtime, working out, but these items rarely remain fixed.
Kids get sick, relationships go sour, work makes you stay overtime, can’t hit the gym cause work made you stay, have to work to pay for the house, want to go out on a date….
In reality the things we value are constantly changing–they’re dynamic. Try as we may to pursue that picturesque moment of ‘balance’ we can’t capture it for more than a glimpse cause ironically those moments are just that–a picture–mere static moments in time.
Think of yourself on that dream vacation on a beach with no cares and a drink in hand saying, “this is the life”. For a moment in time life is voided of realities and you have ‘balance’.
But does it really make sense that the only times we’re balanced is when we have no responsibilities sitting on the beach sipping mimosas?
Back to reality.
I come across more people who are still trying to find the right balance over people who’ve ‘got it all worked out’.
Fact check: real lives always exist with tension and having tension in your life is not an indication you’re not doing things right.
We’re actually pretty normal cause we don’t have it all worked out.
Then what’s the hang up?
Perhaps we need a more holistic approach to the journey of life that doesn’t seek to compartmentalize static segments of ‘life’ but rather strives for overall congruence.
At Calgary Church we try to lead lives that are driven by mission. That means we try to filter everything through a ‘lens’ of missio Dei–our participation in God’s plan to put the world to rights.
That means two things;
1) Because of our uniqueness we can incarnate mission in a unique way suited to our lives and gifts, yet simultaneously combine with a like-minded community;
2) Because we’re unique there is no single preconceived metric of ‘life balance’ we need to meet.
A balanced life is one that seeks purpose, has bumps and bruises along the way, doesn’t try to keep up with the Jones’, but rather strives to pursue a life built on God’s plan to rescue, redeem, and renew creation.