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I feel like my life resembles a tightrope walker, balancing every step while looking at impending danger each time a step is taken. Life is so many things. Life is a dance. Life is a joy. Life is hard. Life is labor. Life is fun. Life is enduring. Life is relationship. Life is beauty. Life is children laughing. Life is a fight. Life is a journey.

Life can be so many different elements all wrapped up into one. Today, however, for me, life is a tightrope. A walk of intrinsic balance where one misstep can put me over the edge. Where each step needs to be thought out and no thought process overlooked.

 

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I woke up this morning with a list from yesterday that was halfway finished and added several more things to it by the time breakfast was over. I like lists, they bring order to my life and help me feel like I accomplished something, even if that something was washing dishes and doing the laundry. Somehow, checking it off the list makes me feel more valuable. Yes, I know my value is not in what I do. But, be honest, doesn’t the human heart crave to be valuable and important? Don’t most mankind want to know that their life is making a difference?

As I looked over my list this morning, I felt like I was doing a tightrope dance. Which thing to tackle first? What was going to affect me the most if I didn’t get it finished? And, WHERE was that vehicle registration tag that I have been looking for for weeks! Paying $40 extra to get a replacement tag is not appealing to me. Oh and wait, while I am thinking about it, pause blog and add to list…find Sydnie’s phone.

We have a problem with losing things in this house, and then blaming the two-year-old (who often really is to blame…) But that is beyond the point. The point is, the list today is an important list. It is full of things that will impact me, my family, the church, and Christmas if I don’t get the list done.

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How do I meet the needs of five children, love my husband and be his helpmeet, coordinate ministry needs, take care of the house and ongoing “list,” and keep myself filled up all at the same time? Enter the tightrope. The tightrope is Jesus and I have to cling to Him all the time. He is my support and my answer. By the way, He is also the net that I fall into should I ever lose my balance on the tightrope of life. He is LIFE. Earlier, I said a bunch of things about what life is. It is all true. But thank God, life is more than that. Life is Christ.

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. No man comes to the Father except through me.”

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So where do I go when I am overwhelmed with the tightrope I am walking?

The Father. And how do I get to Him?

Jesus.

And. He. makes. what. I. am. doing. worth. it. all.

So, today, if you are walking the tightrope of life, remember Jesus is with you, underneath you, supporting you, and cheering you on. Here are a few things I have incorporated that have helped me, and might help you, in the tightrope of life:

  1. Evaluate your list and make sure He has asked you to do what is on it.
  2. Whatever you do, do it heartily for the Lord, as I wrote in my blog “Simple Things.” You can read that here if you haven’t already.
  3. Make sure first things are first and you are getting your time with the Lord. Nothing should take priority over that, not even a  natural disaster or an emergency. He comes first…all the time.
  4. Ask God if there is anything that needs to be added to the list.
  5. Oh, and, if you don’t have a list, it might be a good idea to have one to bring some order, and value, to the chaos of life.
  6. Don’t get frustrated when things don’t get checked off as quickly as you want. Or when things like laundry, bills, homework, or other things pile up again and again. Just remember, you ARE making a difference just by being excellent at what you do and not giving up.
  7. Keep up the good work! Encourage yourself in the Lord! Stay balanced.

Photo credits:

  • http://www.clker.com/clipart-tight-rope-walker-stickman.html
  • “Girl Balancing  on Rope with Umbrella” by Vlado
  • Em Barin at http://community.udlcenter.org
  • “Girl Balancing on Rope” by Vlado

Written by angela adkins

2 Comments

Lori Shevlin

For me the greatest balancing act has always been to be IN this world but not OF it. God first in all things. Yet we are here in the world for the sole purpose to bring more into the fold of our Christ family. We have a job to do that should always be our first priority, to share the Gospel of Christ . Raising and equipping our children to be men and woman of God. In the work place , to find opportunities to show and be examples of a real and geniune faith walk with God. At night when we lay our heads on our pillows ,we should say ” today did I through YOU Lord enhance your kingdom here on earth ? ” Yes there is lot’s of mundane task to be done each day, but even in the Smalls , Big God things can be accomplished. You , Angie do that here with this blog and in your daily living life. I think God smiles upon you!

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