It seems the trend to pick a single word for the year instead of making a list of resolutions. Only a handful of letters to sum up a whole catalog full of needful improvements. Two months into the year, I have finally figured out what word would quiet my vague groanings of unrest with the status quo. BALANCE. A busy and messy house, a fledgling business, a large family and now grandchildren too, and ministry opportunities all tumble and tangle together, each vying for more than its own share of my limited time and energies. Balance just seems so elusive in my life. Whatever my current project is tends to clamor most urgently and consume me to the exclusion of all else. Then, when the neglected areas protest, I turn and focus my attention there to avert some small disaster.
So, BALANCE is my word of the year. Like the tightrope walker with arms elegantly spread, balance requires constant, tiny, readjustments to maintain. It is an action more like breathing than a place one arrives. The continual small, slow, and steady readjustments on the journey down the rope are much more effective than a periodic thrashing of the arms when you are about to fall. So, my goal for the year is to try not to be overwhelmed with the big corrections that need made, but to daily, constantly, be aware of staying balanced in all things. Taking time for the important, being diligent to the necessary, staying faithful to my God, and becoming my best self. There is no time planner that can give me the perfect schedule to accomplish that. It just requires that constant awareness of where small adjustments are needed before balance is lost. The small things, over time will get me where I want to be and I will look back amazed at the journey. Balance.
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