Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Learning to balance

Recently I've been learning a lesson in balance. I don't mean gracefully walking the balance beam. What I mean is being willing to say, "No." Protecting my time. Being intentional about resting or withdrawing from all the rush and fast-paced living.

I was inspired a few months ago by our senior Pastor, who encouraged us to only get involved in the few things we were truly gifted in and leave the other jobs for other people. He had to do it for medical reasons, and had plenty of time to reflect on the healthfulness of choosing balance. He was now encouraging us. So I started with asked to do praise singing at church half as often. Then I missed a few of the evangelistic meetings in a recent series. The I asked for help sending weekly e-mail updates to our young adult group. It was working! Other people were doing a fine job at doing these things, and I had more time and less busyness.

I've recently applied this to work. Taking my full lunch break. Taking my 15 minute breaks. Saying "no" and doing fewer things well. I hope I can find a way to consistently choose a life of balance and reap the benefits that come with it!

1 comment:

Laura said...

I hear you!! Add a baby to the mix and you've got quite a concoction! I'm having to learn how to balance everything too, hard especially now that I'm working part-time again. :) Thanks for the encouragement - we'll all keep trying to do the most important things and let the rest slide a bit...