Finding Balance in Strange Places

Our homes are familiar spaces. But we are still in a strange place.

Asked to stay in this space, sheltered in place, to protect not just our families but to protect others, the vulnerable.

Are you finding yourself resembling the juggler—adding the teaching and entertaining of children to your already overfilled hands? Or maybe you’re the clown—working extra hard to keep all these people in your house happy.

For those of us without children, whether single or married, our days may have become quieter and more isolated. We sit back as spectators, using social media to watch the antics of the other performers (and their children). We laugh at the cute stuff, we applaud the heroic efforts, and (sometimes) we judge the failures, assuming we would have done better.

How do we find balance in this moment?

Let’s become tightrope walkers.

Let me share three tightrope-walking tips that come from my book, Finding Balance in the Circus of Life, that can bring some steadier steps to this season:

Focus on a fixed point

“When I walk, I lock my sight onto the end of the wire at the platform out in front of me. …
When a wirewalker allows his attention to wander, even for a second,
his concentration is broken and his life is in jeopardy.”
Tino Wallenda

How are you staying focused on Jesus during this quarantine?

Even if your normal waking, sleeping, devotional, and prayer times have been disrupted, how can you plan time with God each day? Consider the value of modeling for your children the importance of alone time talking to God. Sit them in front of a screen for 30 minutes and tell them you are not to be disturbed short of blood or protruding bones. Then ignore them, and focus on Jesus.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Hebrews 12:2

Live in the Moment

“We often have so much on our plates that we don’t take time to be aware of what’s happening all around us. We live by the tyranny of the urgent and fail to pay attention to the important.”
Finding Balance in the Circus of Life

The Big Pause provides an opportunity. We can let some of our busyness go and focus on what’s important—our relationships. How have you gotten to know your spouse or your children in a different way? What investments are you making in your spiritual life? What creative ways are you finding to interact (at a distance) with our neighbors? Live in this moment. It won’t last (honestly). Take advantage of it.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Jesus (Matthew 22:37–38)

Use the Net; Then Get Up

“The Wallendas choose to perform without a net.
They believe it keeps them sharp and focused on their precise moves. …
But it doesn’t mean members of the clan haven’t fallen,
sometimes with fatal results. In 1962, their seven-person pyramid collapsed,
killing two family members and paralyzing a third.”
Finding Balance in the Circus of Life

We too are going to fall. We’re not going to do this all perfectly. You weren’t planning to teach your children this year (or to teach your classroom remotely). It never occurred to me to store up toilet paper for some never-anticipated shortage. Some days grief is going to make just getting a shower feel like slogging through a bog. Your children are unsettled, too, which mean anger or tears aren’t far from the surface (and they may very well be yours or mine).

It’s okay. We have a net. It’s called a relationship with Jesus. Just get up and start again. Apologize. Be kind to yourself. Pray. Exude grace to others and then pour some on yourself.

“Focus on me. Walk intentionally and be in the moment. Forget this fall.
All is forgiven. In fact, it was forgiven thousands of years ago when I died in your place.”
Jesus

Want to discover more about finding balance in any season?

Buy your copy of Finding Balance in the Circus of Life, right here.
(You can even order an autographed copy!)
You can also access the first chapter and start reading right away.