Life Balance

I often think about balance in my life and in the lives of my wife and kids. We can fill our lives with so much, and life can fill us with so much, how can we keep it in check?

It is easy to say that the secrete to life is to live a balanced life, but what does that really mean?

I guess it starts with identifying what in life is needed and what in life is helpful, and then finding a blend of the two.

Well I need my faith, and I need to provide at least some basics for my wife and my children (i.e food, shelter, clothing, etc.)

I need to feel loved and I know I want and need to provide my love to my family.

Life can become so off balance, especially when we begin to confuse what we actually need and what "would be nice."

Liz and I were just discussing how fortunate we are to visit Guatemala each year. We visit a very poor area, where they really have just the basics, if that, and they still have peace. These encounters with the local people help us reset our "balance scales" and help us keep an honest perspective in our own lives, a perspective that might be difficult to identify otherwise.

It is so easy to look at the same situation from two completely point of views, be it poverty, addiction, self-centerdness, etc., but ultimately we have the control over our outlook on life and on situations of one's life.

Many people would be happy to give their self proclaimed wise opinions on life and what they feel is important in life, but the true answer to one's search for balance in their life is contained in their own conscience and heart.

For me, the more simple I can become, brings the more peace and balance into my life. The less I desire, the more the balance scale rights itself.

I don't mind work, if fact, hard work, brings reward. I don't mean financial, yes money comes and goes, sometimes more and sometimes less, but what I really mean is that hard work brings fulfillment and purpose. Our work can also affect others.

I many ways we might never see our own accomplishments and maybe even our own failures, especially when it refers to heavenly and spiritual circumstances. Our actions can affect others in ways that we are not even aware.

The balance of life, I believe rights itself, probably with some help form our Lord, when we keep our interests and our goal on Loving our Lord with all our heart, with all of our strength, and with all of our soul.

He will give us purpose, He will provide what He feels that we need, and he will love us forever. There have been many books written on keeping balance in your life. However, most of them that I have seen have a similar underlying message that is much more about taking and receiving and doesn't say much about giving.

Sometimes thinking less and just doing, especially when you remove your own desires and focus on the needs and wants of others, can bring much more peace, joy and fulfilment; while helping you escape the trap of self-rationalization.

Who's scale is in anyway? If I understand the message, I am just the vessel , and it is He who resides in me.