I try to maintain a healthy balance in several areas of my life. One of those areas is that I want to stay faithful to my basic disciplines and goals, but I don’t want to be rigid. When I am inflexible, I feel guilty if I don’t do all my disciplines or everything on my to-do list or fall short of my goals. Part of what I need to remind myself is that I am doing the disciplines and goals to grow in character to be like Jesus, and to serve Him by influencing others for Him, not simply to please him with my effort or activity. On the other hand, I don’t want my flexibility and freedom to turn into apathy or laziness. It is like driving a car to a destination; I need to steer it so I don’t go into the ditch on one side or hit oncoming traffic on the other. It sounds simple and easy, but it takes a lot of self-examination and thinking about why I do things. We are complicated beings, and knowing our hearts and motives is tricky.

Another issue for me in pursuing balance is that my primary ministry now is teaching my leadership classes, which are about leading ourselves to growth and accomplishment and then influencing others to do the same. I don’t want to influence people to be machines doing the basics, but people who are driven by their love for Jesus to grow to know Him and glorify Him by bearing much fruit.

One of my disciplines and goals is writing this blog every day. I enjoy writing it, especially when people share how it has blessed them. But sometimes, it is challenging to get it done with schedules shifting. For the next three days, I will be camping in Eastern Oregon, shooting Belgium Ground Squirrels, commonly called “sage rats,” and fishing for monster Trout. There is no cell service where we will be, and I will have little time to write. I will write all about my adventures in four days.