Today is Friday which means it’s Five Minute Friday. If you don’t know what Five Minute Friday, it’s where women from all over the world come together to write for five minutes on one word – no editing, no second-guessing. You can head on over HERE to check it out.
Today’s word is BALANCE
Balance, as we think of it, is a myth. I know because I’ve chased after it all of my adult life – this idea that if I just have things in balance, I can do all the things equally well. The truth is balance doesn’t mean that at all.
You see, I thought of balance like those people who spin plates and keep them all going at once and they keep adding more plates until finally they can’t keep up with all the spinning and the plates start to crash one by one.
My to-do list used to have – no joke – about 25 items on it for one day, and then I was confused and frustrated and annoyed with myself when I didn’t cross them all off. Crazy, right? But I did this for literally YEARS!
Part of that is because I have no concept of time. I freely admit it. I am a creative and that whole ability to estimate how long something will take? That totally doesn’t work in my brain! So, I would be overly optimistic about how much I could get done. (It’s also why I tend to be late a lot because I think I can squeeze in one more thing!).
True balance is about understanding the real parameters of your time available, your energy and the capacity of your plate.
See, balance isn’t about spinning all those plates in the air. It’s about looking at the plate you’ve been given and being realistic about how full you can fill it before things start spilling off the sides or everything is too squished to really enjoy (anyone else like to eat their food separately or is that just me?)
We can’t compare our plate to how much someone else has on theirs because each of us has a different size and shape based on a lot of things – health, responsibilities, seasons of life. Yours won’t look like mine. So, balance is as individual as we are.
Once I learned that, I spent a whole lot less time picking up broken china!
Blessings, Rosanne
6 Comments on Five Minute Fridays – BALANCE
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Such a great post! It’s true – it is not about how many plates we can balance at one time but how well we handle the one plate. I am so glad to have stopped here as I think this is my first time here. “Glad to meet you!” Blessings!
Balance is personal just like our discipleship. Such a good reminder rather than looking to what other people balance ( or appear to). I also resonate with being late because not allowing enough time. I’ve started allotting more “travel” time into my calendar to not be rushed. Thank you for your thoughts. FMF8
Michelle recently posted…balance
Brilliant! I love the explanation of balance with the picture of plates (I learn so well through visual!) I want my plate full – who likes an empty plate?? – but only with what He would have on my plate. And with the right amount. (Definitely keeping everything separate.) 🙂
Great thoughts here! I definitely try to do too much and underestimate how quickly I can do things. It is important to work towards finding more of a balance! Visiting from FMF #5.
Lesley recently posted…Full Of Grace And Truth
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your kind words.
This is great, Rosanne. Just watch the one plate. What a blessing-message!
#1 at FMF this week.
https://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2018/12/your-dying-spouse-551-spending.html
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