Balancing Act

When I was a kid, the first goofy trick I tried learning was balancing a bat on your finger. You know the one when you take a baseball bat, and put the knob of the bat on your finger to keep the barrel end upright for as long as possible? Well since then, I can say that it is easier than it’s made out to be. However, the more I look at the trick, the more something comes to mind with a deeper meaning.

Now here is what I want you to think about in your own life. Have you ever felt like there were times in your life, or maybe even right now. That you feel as if there are things that are starting to pile up on you. Things that as you add more and more, they feel like you are struggling to keep the balance? Or maybe even not a bunch of things, but there is just one thing that you are so focused on it’s causing you to feel “out of whack”?

To understand where I am going with this thought, I have to explain how you keep things in balance. To keep something upright, like the bat analogy. You must always consider these two rules - 1. A Reference Point 2. Constant Correction. So with these rules, a reference point refers to a particular spot that allows you to keep that balance. If you do not have a reference point, it would be like walking a tight rope with your eyes closed - just does not work. And constant correction refers to a never-ending series of fixes that keeps the object upright. In the bat analogy that would be your hand constantly making the slightest adjustment to keep the knob of the bat underneath the barrel.

This is where this analogy however can take a new meaning, and instead of just balancing a bat, let us balance our own life. You feel like in life, you take on thing after thing? Always adding to your plate, and the stresses of keeping everything in line just seem like they become too much for you? I know in my own life right now, with all the planning I have to do just for a daily schedule to flow seems like a lot.

However, let’s focus this on the deeper meaning. When we take our own life and put it in this analogy. How hard does it seem to keep everything in balance without it all coming toppling down? Like I mentioned before, that balancing act could be with just one thing with all our focus or a million things with little focus. But if the focus is lost, all comes tumbling down.

So how do we fix this one situation, or complex juggling act of things we deal with? Well, those two same rules of balance still apply, but with a new meaning. A reference point is still needed, but when all the focus is on your hand (bat analogy) you lose focus on the one thing you need to keep upright. When you take your eye off the correct reference point, things start to fall. In our walks with God, as Christians, our reference point in every scenario needs to be on Christ. It says in Proverbs 1:33 “but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster.” This verse reminds us that if we focus our thoughts and listen to Christ, we can be at ease and things won’t end in shambles. So what is it in your life that is taking your reference point off of the one who has everything figured out for you in the first place?

The second rule of balance is making those constant corrections. I think you know where I am headed with this one. In our life, we need to always be making those subtle adjustments to realign our actions to our purpose. These corrections do not always need to be huge things, while sometimes they are, not always are huge corrections the most needed. In 2 Timothy 16-17, it says, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Look into your own life and see the things that you need to be at ease about and the things you can do to help correct them. Do you feel like I mentioned before, that the things or even just one thing, is becoming too much for you and that just the slightest mixup could crash everything down?

There is hope. There is someone you can look to as the best reference point around. Just look up and know God is with you. Look up and talk to God. Ask Him into your life, and let that reference point help you make those corrections you need to be able to live a life that doesn’t feel like a balancing act. But rather something sturdy, firm, everlasting.

Matthew 7:24-27 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”