I hate the word "balance".
First, it's unbiblical. Given it's current buzz-word status, you might be surprised to hear this, but the concept of #balance is not in there. The closest word in Hebrew is best translated as "measured" (Lev. 19:36; Is. 46:6). Now, measured is a GREAT word. We're wise to measure quite a number of things, including our days. (More on that another time.)
Second, inherent in the word "balance" is loss, compromise, trade-off, half-measure. Take the phrase "#work_life_balance". I get the concept: making sure life doesn't overrun your role at your job and work doesn't make you an unhealthy person by setting in place #boundaries. (Boundaries is also a GREAT, Biblical word. More on that another time.) But the idea of "balancing" promotes the idea that life (hobbies, family, sleep, spouse, etc.) would get 50% and work would get 50%.
That's a terrible idea. Are we really satisfied with giving part of ourselves to one and part to the other? This would make us crummy employees - never focused fully on the job AND half-present in everything else. On the contrary, the Bible clearly says we are to love God with our WHOLE BEING (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:29-30). It's far better to be wholly present at our job, when at our job. It's far better to be wholly present with our children (ahem, phones off) when with our children. It's far better to be wholly present with our spouse when with our spouse.
I believe the false burden of "achieving balance" has led women into the bondage of #JUGGLING everything we think we're supposed to manage.
Not only is this not Biblical (and rooted in Hinduism), it's unachievable. It's a disaster waiting to happen. You cannot juggle life. No one can. You will lose peace and contentment if you try! God doesn't call us to balance, He calls us to #stability (2 Pe. 3:17), #rest (Ge. 2:2), and #peace (Ps. 29:11). He doesn't even call us to #prioritize.
Life is not a list of #priorities, numbered 1-10. Priorities listed like this will get jumbled ten times in one day, especially with toddlers! Think of life instead like a wheel: God is the center, the spokes are the areas of our lives, people we influence, roles we take on. At times, one or more spokes will be under pressure (rolling along the ground, as it were).
Take a mom with sick kids: Devotions might be a quick prayer of "God help me!" while she grabs a couple of granola bars to eat in the doctor's waiting room and calls her work to let them know the kids have been throwing up all night. This is #life. The kids and family are under #pressure. The priorities of God, health, clean house, and work are not the ones under pressure—so give yourself a break and eat the granola bar without guilt. The other areas might be under pressure next week!
When particular areas of our lives are under pressure or developing, we can call this a #SEASON (which is also a Biblical concept - see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as a good example).
Life is meant to be lived. #Messy. #Measured. #Present. Resting at the right moments. Sleep-deprived during others. Leaping at still others. Embracing the seasons as they come. Preparing our hearts to do so by becoming transformed, #wholly_His.
#Grace lives, really lives.
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Additional resources:
What "Being Biblically Balanced Really Means": https://www.christianpost.com/news/what-does-it-mean-to-be-biblically-balanced.html
D. A. Carson on "balance" (whom I agree with, but take exception to the use of the word and feel a better word would be "allocate":
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