Like riding a bike, moving forward with momentum from God enables you to not only achieve balance but also grow and prosper. What happens when you’re not moving in God’s plan for your life?
You know it’s there; you’re just not sure what it is. You can’t seem to shake the feeling that something’s a little off. Deep within, there’s a discontentment that nags and distracts like an old injury or rumbling stomach. There are no waving red flags, you can’t put your finger on it, but without a doubt something isn’t quite right. Whether it’s in the hustle and bustle of a busy workday or the few quiet moments you take in life, maybe you’ve closed your eyes to ask – “What is going on? Why do I feel off?”
As humans, we’re not created to live and stay at the extremes. We often find that fitness, extreme sports , careers and more are areas in life where, by choice and effort we set and achieve goals to expand our potential. Our lives can also be pushed into the extremities and even beyond by unplanned and unwanted circumstances. In either case it is important to remember that extreme living has important growth value but we’re designed for the middle. We thrive when there’s balance.
The beauty of balance can easily be seen in nature; day is balanced with night, sunshine is balanced with rain, hot is balanced with cold and the list continues. Deep within, we want it as well; sleep balanced with awake-time, work balanced with play, and money earned should be balanced between money spent, saved and given.
While it’s easy to acknowledge that we should strive for balanced lives, it’s often difficult to actually achieve. Balance can seem to be elusive. It shouldn’t be. To pursue a healthy and balanced life begin by understanding three rules of physical balance.
Physical balance is defined as the even distribution of weight allowing an object to remain upright and steady. There are three things you must do in order to successfully achieve balance physically and spiritually.
THREE RULES OF BALANCE
1. REFERENCE POINT – Where are you going? You must establish and focus on a proper reference point. Ask the question – What is it that I’m trying to balance? If you’re attempting to balance a pencil on your finger, would you focus on your foot? Of course not. Your obvious reference point should be the pencil. To achieve personal balance, you must focus on yourself. This may seem like a selfish task, but it’s actually quite the opposite. In order to positively impact the people around you, be it family, friends, or coworkers, you must first take care of yourself. If you’re out of balance, it will negatively impact all of your relationships. On the other hand, a balanced and healthy you can lead to a daily walk that has wonderfully positive ripple effects throughout your family and community.
2. CLEAR OBJECTIVE – What is the objective? What are you trying to accomplish? It’s easy to simply say – achieve balance! But, what does that mean? Personally answering this question can be quite a task and might require some time of soul-searching, deep conversation, and prayer. I encourage you to do just that. However, for the purposes of this article, let’s define our objective as – moving towards personal balance. You will not achieve harmonious balance by the end of today. Tomorrow probably will not deliver it either. The question is, can you inch closer each day? That’s the goal. Keep the objective clear and continually in-focus through prayer .
3. CONSTANT CORRECTIONS – To successfully balance an object, you must make constant corrections. To move towards your goal of personal balance, you must constantly correct your tainted viewpoints. We live in a world that slyly bombards us with lies. Before we know it, we want things that we really don’t need, pursue things that really don’t matter, and we care more about the outside than the inside of our body. The Bible says to not conform to this world, but be transformed. To achieve balance, we must not conform to the world’s standards. If you take an honest look, it’s easy to see that the majority of society is tremendously out of balance. Want to be balanced? Don’t do what they’re doing! It’s as simple as that, but to assure you’re moving in the right direction, I’ve included some practical tips that will help you make constant corrections towards a life of balance.
HOW TO MOVE TOWARD BALANCE
1. EMBRACE MARGIN – In his Take It To The Limit series, Andy Stanley says “Our culture encourages us to live as close to the edge as possible. As a result we pack our schedules and empty our checkbooks—all in a quest to grab the most we can from life. This kind of life is dangerous, however, because God created us with limits. The closer we approach our limits, the less margin and greater potential we have to burn ourselves out—as well as those around us.”
Wonderful things happen in the margin, yet it seems our society almost frowns on it. Once again, we should not conform to society’s views; instead, scale back and embrace the power of margin. When your schedule is maxed and life is pushing you out of balance, it’s time to create margin. Simplifying and prioritizing will help you get there.
2. SIMPLYFY YOUR LIFE AND PRIORITIZE WHAT IS IMPORTANT – Volunteer work, job responsibilities, church involvement, the pull of social media, hobbies, family, and friends can easily combine to wear anyone thin. You might be wearing a smile as if you’re balancing it all just fine, but if you’re feeling frazzled, then maybe it’s time to simplify your life. The first step is asking one simple question – What is truly important? To get a clearer idea, ask one more question – If I knew I only had one year to live, what would I do with the time? That is what’s important. Decide what’s important, prioritize those things, and learn to say no.
3. LIVE IN THE MOMENT – One of my favorite pieces of wisdom comes from Solomon – Don’t long for the good old days, for you don’t know whether they were any better than today. All that you have is right now. Grab it, don’t live in the past or long for the future, you just might miss the beauty and wonder of the present. Tremendous pleasure or a valuable lesson can be taken from every situation, good or bad, if we’re willing to simply live in the moment by resting in the peace of God.
WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
After reading these tips for achieving balance, you may be thinking, “There’s no way I can do those things. It’s a nice idea, but my lifestyle and schedule won’t allow margin and living in the moment.” I’m sure you’re super busy and have a very exciting (or stressful) life, but let me pose one last question. Why can’t you scale back? The answer to that question just might set you free from living at the extreme. We tend to get out of balance and wind up at the extremes when something has its claws in us. The practical ideas in this article can help you start to push toward balance. But, admit it, we all need to be shoved. The Bible says it this way – I am allowed to do anything, but some things aren’t good for me. Even if I am allowed to do them, I’ll refuse to if I think they might get such a grip on me that I can’t easily stop when I want to. What do you really WANT to do? What will you REFUSE to do? It’s time to shove forward. When push comes to shove it’s time to push and celebrate.
You are allowed to pursue anything, buy anything and do anything. But, when that anything digs its claws in so deep that you can’t clearly see what’s important in life, then you’re a slave. Slaves have no shot at balance until they’re set free. Freedom can only come after you’ve identified your master – what it is that drives you. Claws, slaves, and freedom may seem like a bit much and my practical suggestions still don’t seem very feasible. Where my practical tips fail is where God will be successful. Practical ideas are knowledge, which has limits. God on the other hand connects with you on the spiritual level. God doesn’t SHOVE anything on you. But, to embrace the fullness of living in balance you need to continually take your self-will, give it to God and pursue his personal wisdom for your life. We all have to do that. When we do, we can break free and discover a life of balance.
So, every time the hustle and bustle of your life leaves you wondering, “Why do I feel off” begin to live countercultural, embrace margin, simplify, prioritize, and live in the moment – not on your own but in close conversation with God.
Corey or schedule a speaking engagement at More-Nutrition.com.
