I have found over my 71 years of living that balance is very important to my soul health. There are many different areas of my life that accomplishing balance is very important. One of them is the balance between ”work hard, accomplish the goals, be focussed, don’t give up, busy is good, keep your priorities straight, push until it moves” and ”relax, rest, take it easy, whatever, fishing, oh well, I will do it tomorrow, time for a nap, and I love my hot tub”. The problem is the teeter-totter tendency. Imagine a teeter-totter, like what used to be in playgrounds before someone decided they were unsafe, with each of the two opposite lists I just gave on each side. The goal is that the teeter-totter would be level from side to side, balanced, but instead it goes up and down, first one side being the big deal and then the other side, back and forth. Out of balance living creates a tension in us, an unrest that destroys peace, joy, self-worth, contentment, relational intelligence, and energy.

The key to maintaining balance in life, like walking on a tight rope over Niagra Falls, or between two very tall buildings is to recognize the signs of out of balance living. For me, it is primarily an inner agitation that I can’t really put my finger on as to the cause. Wisdom is required to choose and regulate activity in my life and to be very diligent in my self-talk.

The most important ingredient to maintaining this balance is a trust in God and His sovereignty that relaxes me. This trust doesn’t take away my fire and my sense of responsibility, but it does take away the fear of failing, it takes away the obsession with goals and activities that makes me feel guilty at the end of the day instead of fulfilled. I have memorized these verses and meditate on them often to help me maintain this perfect balance between being relaxed and being obsessed.

Psalms 127:1-2 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.