Finding Life’s Balance
by Joyce Simmons
** Are you confused and not sure what to do or where to turn? http://thelife.com/interactive/share.html
Thirty years and thirty pounds ago I spent my time at the local YMCA in gym class trying to balance the beam. I have to say now I get winded just finding my hidden exercise clothes! Finding balance was never easy for me and it followed me through life as I became a busy mom, wife, writer and speaker for the countless events on my calendar. On one particular event I determined to take a catnap before my session and almost slept through the evening. Waking up abruptly to panicky leaders and not knowing what city or event I was at gave me some insight to finding some balance in my life!
It seems in this day of over committed schedules we find ourselves trying to keep up with work, family, friends and finances. Add to that the desire most of us, as women, have to pleasing everyone around us and we soon find the balance scale in our lives can tip seriously to the left. We find ourselves depleted of time and energy. Somehow we think there is a Christian rule book that tells us we should use every means to do all we can in an effort to become the Proverbs 31 woman. Do we dare actually take the time to balance our serving ability and, once in awhile just say No? That is, in fact, the only way to keep from wearing down, giving up or heading sideways.
The first thing that takes a backseat when life gets too busy is usually our prayer life – the very thing that puts us in a position to listen as God tells us when to say yes and when to say no. There will always be countless opportunities to serve, but it takes great wisdom to know which ones God has prepared uniquely for us. Sometimes saying no to the good leaves us refreshed and ready to say yes to the best.
The first thing I changed as I began to re-balance was to nurture and mentor my daughter- in-law who took every other speaking engagement for me. To my surprise and delight the requests coming in were for her not me! I also began to enjoy the Saturday morning coffee times with my husband that had been long forgotten. My quiet times centered on God and listening for what He had for my future plans. I even dug out the exercise clothes and with no distractions or pressures walked the park.
If your life resembles a gerbil on the tread mill it’s time to take some time to yourself, listen closely to God and re- evaluate.
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4-7)
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…”
~Father,
I am Yours and Yours alone. You are my beam on which I balance my thoughts and walk out the plans You have for me. Keep me centered and straight on the path to fulfilling Your call in my life. Amen
Question: Will you take time to read these verses and ask God to show you how to better balance your time? Psalm 37:1-6; 139:1-16; Jeremiah 29:11-13; Luke 10:38-42
About the Author: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalforwomen/authors/joyce-simmons/
14 Responses to “Finding Life’s Balance”
Leave a Reply
Start a Conversation
Media
What Do You Fear?
What do you fear, and why? Is it holding you back from realizing your full potential?
>Watch
- Contact
- |
- Advertising
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Link to Us
- |
- Media Releases
- |
- What we believe
Hi Alyssa C! You sure do have a full plate! As you have indicated that you are “extremely overwhelmed” with your current schedule, and your husband is working on his doctorate at this time, is it possible for you to postpone completing your psychology degree until his studies have been completed? I’m presuming that at least one of you are employed full time, which adds another stressor to the mix. Temporarily delaying the pursuit of your degree might lift some of the pressure you’re feeling, which would benefit your entire family! Parenting a teenager in this post-modern world is indeed a challenge, for which we need to be pro-active in teaching/guiding them according to biblical principles, and this is truly our privilege and our God-ordained responsibility. And so, if this might help lessen the stresses you are facing in your home, it might be worthy of your consideration. God bless!
This is my biggest challenge right now. I feel that balancing means you need to be organized with your time and everything else and I’m just not. I am trying to finish my psychology degree while trying to raise a 13 year old in this chaotic world with christian values and my husband is also going for his Doctorate so I am extremely over whelmed so when I think about trying to balance all of that”it makes my head spin.” The only thing that keeps me grounded though is God’s grace and patience.
This is such a timely devotional. I recently got off the treadmill, but it is still taking me awhile to get my balance. Thank you for this word in season.
Dear Linda J, please do not follow my example, as I, too, am one in the process of learning how to serve my husband and children as God would have me! I was a rebellious wife for many years before I came to Jesus, not considering myself accountable to God for my disregarding my husband’s headship in our home. This left our marriage in ruin, but, by the grace of God, my husband and I did not divorce. God saved me after 16 tumultuous years of marriage, and convicted me of my rebellion not only against my husband , but against God. Humbling me, He has called me to trust Him for the redemption of our marriage, as He teaches me how to love my husband His way! I do believe that the Holy Spirit reveals to each of us, as we are willing to learn, where we can make choices that build up our marriages and families, perhaps making sacrifices for the overall benefit of our families.
i wish i could find time for just me.
Dear Marilyn,
Thank you so much for your sharing with me and other ladies. Your message is so encouraging which touches my heart. I know how to be a better wife and a better mother now. I will follow your example.
(((hugs))) Linda J
Thank you, Linda J, for your encouraging words! I realize that there are many women who, despite their genuine efforts to be godly Christian wives and mothers, being widowed or divorced, are left with responsibilities that would be filled by their absent husbands. Many are single mothers, having to balance employment with household /family responsibilities, and the energy leftover for the home is depleated. I am very sympathetic to their plight, as this is not how God designed marriage or the family! There are many who have successfully balanced their home /family responsibilities with outside pursuits. But, for some, homes are sacrificed for personal goals, and I would like to suggest, at the risk of offending some, that if our homes are anything but a haven of rest and refreshment for our families, a place where our husbands want to return to, where our children feel treasured, and are nurtured, as well as nourished, we are not fulfilling our God-ordained roles, and our lives will often reflect this reality in a discontented home. My prayer for us as Christian wives (and mothers) is that we place the priority of our marriages and families above all others, trusting God for His sovereign care and provision. As He sees our commitment to this calling, He will ‘increase our territory’ according to His plan.
celia nicel reminder that we have to place our past, present and our
future in God’s hand to go on in our everyday affair. Simply put
yeah confidence and trust. Me too had felt like a single Mom
although my husband was there. He had been spent almost
12yrs. in the service and did a lot of volunteering so I had to be a mom and a dad to our kids. We were young he also spent a lot of time in playing with
ham radio. But that was the past. Now we have to consentrate on the
future and that is the salvation of our grandchildren here in here nearby.
pray for them please.
indeed, a woman’s life is full of challenges. she has to balance her many roles. i have been both mother and father to my children while working to support my children and send them to school. God blessed me along the way. my children are now both professionals. yet, while my children are living independently abroad, my role as an entrepreneur, manager of my own business exacts a heavy demand on my time. with prayers, i am trying to find a balance between my personal/household roles and responsibilities and those in my office.
yes, i worry a lot if business income would be able to meet my operating requirements. i worry about if i can maintain my office unit which i am renting. i worry that i am not able to implement so many plans. but i realize that i have to surrender all these to God while i do everything i can in my human capacity. likewise, i have surrendered my company to him, just like i have surrendered my past, present and future. i praise God that he has seen me through a lot of trials and struggles and i am confident he will see me through all my difficulties now.
Thank you Joyce for the beautiful and meaningful devotional.
I quite agree with what Marilyn said:Serving the Lord through our serving our husbands and children is honoring to Him. This is really a good reminder. Many times we are busy in the church. But neglect our husband and children. Thank you Marilyn!
Joyce, yes thank you for the devotional. Balance is difficult for me to. I need to put more time on making my house homey but because I’m not a loner
I either go to yard sale, go to the mall or talk to my mother or my sister.
My husband works a lot of week ends. My only days off are week- ends.
On occation he is off. In the fall he will have more days off on Sundays. He
choose to do these. He volunteer to do a job in the church that entails being
there in the morning service. He works a lot of Sundays in the summer so that he can have the fall and winter Sundays off. In addition, he takes
two weeks vacation to do this volunteer job. He enjoys doing it. He is in the music ministry. Last week we went to Boston with our grandson who
is 8yrs. old. He had fun going to the zoo. The next day went to the Aquarium that has 500 spieces of fish then we went to Quincy Market.
It a place where you can find different kind of food and open market and
people entertaining you for hoping you will drop a dollar or 2. There are
nice shops around too. Furthermore, we’ve gone to Boston Commons. Its
a Park where people hang around and there is a playground and has cushion around it even where the water squirt out. A little ways there is a
large wading pool. We rode the train to go to Boston then rode the subway everywhere. We drove our car 25 miles out from Boston,Massatsusets. We do things sometimes. In our vacation we are
going to Porland, Mall here in Maine.I still praying for you Jan the upcoming surgery. My son is doing good and able to walk around. He is
healing nicely from his accident and has a recliner to sit in the livng room.
He can get in and out of the tub to take a bath to prevent infection on
his road rash. Tomorrow he goes to see the surgent I suppose because
he is going to the big hospital again. The usual he goes to the one nearby
for hydro therapy everyday. The huge hospital is 90miles away.
I don’t know that I am all that busy, but the Lord has been slowing me down more and more the past several weeks. He has His way of stilling us, it seems, so that He can get our attention.
My heart has been so humbled and I am learning to trust Him more and more, I believe. It has been brought so personally to me, that He truly controls every single beat of our heart and every breath we take.
Right now, I sense I am to be at His Feet, read His word, study and be still to hear His voice. How or if He desires to use me in some way is not for me to choose or even consider at this time.
I do believe He is slowing me down tho….to be the wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother He wants me to be. When I think of service to Him, as Marilyn stated it is honoring Him.
I sense Him saying to me to unencumber my life and seek Him more deeply than ever. That is my heart’s desire.
Thank you Joyce for this devotion. For me, it is time for my mind and heart to be centered on Him.
This is an excellent devotional, Joyce, and so worthy of our consideration! Sometimes, we can become so over-scheduled in our lives, even with Christian service, that our time with the Lord, as well as our time with our families, is neglected and becomes mal-nourished. Our roles as Christian wives, and mothers, are a priority in God’s economy, over our employment and Christian service. Serving the Lord through our serving our husbands and children is honoring to Him. If we are busy in Christian service, but our homes are in distress, this does not please the Lord. The Proverbs 31 woman did everything to benefit her husband and children. This was her service to the Lord. There is a saying . . . ‘If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.’ May we always be on guard for Satan’s attempts to steal our time from God and/or our families, and keep us mindful of God’s priorities in our lives.
Such a timely reminder — thanks!