It's rare to find someone who says their life is in perfect balance with God, family, work, chores, and personal needs all being equally and adequately cared for. We all want that kind of life - a life that doesn't have you constantly trying to cram another activity into a heavy day; a life that doesn't require explaining to the children, again, why you can't play right now; a life with time for God, family, and friends. But to most people, that kind of life seems like something out of a 1950's TV show [Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver]. Because the life we're familiar with is one in which every aspect of our existence demands more of us than we have to give. In fact, we could probably have another full-time job just doing home maintenance.

What we all want, simply put, is a life in BALANCE. Our desire is to be able to do the things that are really important, without feeling rushed and overwhelmed. What we want is for every area to receive its proper amount of time and attention, no more and no less. Is that kind of life possible?

The goal is serving God, not finding balance

The goal for a Christian isn't really balance. Balance implies that we examine all of the pieces of our lives - work, family, leisure, etc. - and we allocate our resources of time and money as each one deserves. The problem with this approach is that God gets put in the mix as just one priority among many. "There's my career, there's my marriage, there's my relationship with my kids, there's friends, and there's God." But God will not tolerate being just one of many items on a list. God is not just one of our priorities; He must be our first and only priority.

Find out this fall how to bring every area of life into harmony with God's will. The goal is to follow and obey Him with every area of our lives. If we do that, then the "BALANCE" will take care of itself because God will never ask us to do more than we are able.

Festivals of Marriage
Mark Satterfield