Balance promises us a drama-free life with everything in its proper place, all the time. It tells us that if we keep enough lists, we’ll never break down or burn out or forget to pay a bill or pick up our kids. But if Jesus couldn’t achieve it, how can we? The incarnation is messy. To be human is to sometimes (or often) feel it’s all too much.
Jesus may not have been balanced, but he was centered. He knew exhaustion, but he also knew where to go to find renewal.
Houses need to be built in a certain order; tiles can’t be laid until the floor is level, cupboards can’t be painted before they’re sanded, walls can’t be raised before the foundation is set. Our homes and lives may be in disarray, but frantically buying more tools and making improvement plans may distract us from what we really need.
Stopping to sit in God’s presence, engaging Scripture and prayer, will strengthen our foundations and help us to accept life as it is: unpredictable, glorious chaos. A beautiful, imperfect, unbalanced mess, with God as our loving, graceful, merciful, forgiving center.
This message is adapted from “Building a balanced life” written by Jennifer Hackbarth in the June 2015 issue of Café magazine.
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