Jo Bower's Blog

LIFE IS A BALANCING ACT

It’s all about balance –
Finding the place:

Between innovative faith
And unrecognizable expressions that make God unknowable and impersonal.

Between excitement in worship
And a feel-good, totally emotional based relationship with God.

Between nourishing my personal faith
And service resulting from and witnessing to that faith in active, recognizable ways.

Between thinking I’m dirt, unworthy, the world’s worse sinner
And thinking I’m the most important person in my world.

Between accepting who I am and using my talents
And protecting my territory so no one else has a chance to express their talent.

Between not being afraid to step up and say, “I can do this,”
And the arrogance that often grows from self-promotion.

Between knowing I’m where God put me and I’m doing God’s work
And ignoring all logic and advice from Godly people around me.

Between having confidence in what I believe
And an exclusive, arrogant faith that says ‘my way is absolutely the ONLY way!”

Between complete acceptance of all ideas, beliefs, people, and life-styles
And constant ridicule of things different from what I know and think.

Between cherishing the life, work, family, and friends God has given me
While knowing there’s more out there and accepting people with different paths.

Between looking forward to, preparing for, and working toward the future
And living today in fulfilling, effective, joyful ways.

Life is a balancing act between extremes,
Each pulling us away from the center, insisting we must be one or the other.

But I can live to the fullest and use every talent God has give me
Without having to be the richest, most famous, best, most beautiful, most talented person in my world.

I can be the third chair violinist in the orchestra of life and not the conductor,
While still being who God has made me and helping the people God puts in my life.

And accepting this, I still find the biggest struggle is finding the place
Between obsession and expectations of others and who I need to be in my God-given life.

Life is a balancing act,
And only God can help me get it right.

Romans 12:3 (New International Reader’s Version)
3 God’s grace has been given to me. So here is what I say to every one of you. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Be reasonable when you think about yourself. Keep in mind the amount of faith God has given you.