FEBRUARY 29 • TRUE LEADERSHIP
Work / Life: Balance or Myth? 
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3
If balance is defined as equal time, family and work can’t be balanced — it’s not supposed to be. It’s not in the scripture — we are not encouraged to live balanced lives — Why? Life isn’t balanced. Jesus didn’t balance family and work. None of us do. We work six days and rest one. That’s not, balanced.
Rather, Jesus saw his priorities as equal “rhythms” that demanded all of his attention at a given point, rather than two competing loyalties that must be balanced. When Jesus was 12 years old, he disappeared from his mom and dad. When they found him in the Temple he said, I must be about my Father’s business. In other words, Mom, right now, the most important thing I could be doing is learning to do what God has called me to do.
Jesus’ family was not always first priority over his ministry — or time with his heavenly Father. Three Gospels record the story of Jesus teaching the crowds and his mother and brothers show up and ask him to come home (Matthew 12:46-47). When hearing this, Jesus doesn’t even come to the door. Why? Because He was in the middle of God’s work. Now don’t get me wrong, Jesus highly honored his mother and father. Jesus highly valued relationships. Jesus picked 12 men to do ministry with and he was close to three of them more than anyone else. He passionately loved people! He also made sure his mom was cared for after his death (John 19:26-27).
Jesus wasn’t balanced in the way we define balance. He lived life in rhythm. When he was supposed to be working, he gave it his all — his very life! When he was supposed to be doing life with God or people, he was fully present physically, emotionally, and mentally. No one has ever been more passionate about people than Jesus. However, he didn’t just live at the whims of people, even his own family —he had boundaries (more on boundaries on another day…). We need to do the same.
Therefore, planning and reflecting daily are crucial. As is setting up a greater plan for the whole year. Looking at direction for your life in general so you can specifically plan daily. We need to do this for all spheres of our life — spiritual, family, physical, career, financial, intellectual, and social. Each sphere needs to reflected on and decisions made as to what gets priority, when, for how long, how to grow within it, etc. If I use the list of spheres above as an example as a priority order, I might see that in shear quantity (number of hours), physical probably takes most of my time, if you include sleep, meals, exercise, etc. — the physical world — career as second, family third, intellectual fourth, spiritual fifth, social sixth, and financial last. That’s not priority of importance! Just the actual number of hours each category may take. Physical takes 8 hours per day sleep, 1.5 hours per day in meals, 30 minutes in exercise, 30-60 min per day personal hygiene, etc., so maybe 11-12 hours per day. Career might be 8-10 hours per day and 1-2 hours travel time, etc, so 10 hours per day, spiritual may be 60 min devotions and prayer per day — so although it’s the most important in life, it doesn’t use the most of our time. That doesn’t mean we aren’t having other devotions and prayer throughout the day.
So priority is important to determine the what, then the amount of time to invest, when it should be done, and then how to accomplish it all. THAT becomes your balance. You only become out-of-balance when you don’t keep your schedule — when you sacrifice family for work, spiritual for physical, etc. It’s okay to have seasons of extra work, or seasons of less sleep — those are trade-offs (which we will talk about at another date). But those trade-offs should only be done for a short season — otherwise they are stealing from what you know to be right and you need to make a paradigm shift in some aspect — maybe your work needs to change (career), or health habits need to change (you’re losing health because you don’t exercise, eat right, or get enough sleep, etc.). Don’t just let life happen, be intentional about planning it! Pray about it, get counsel (include spouse, family, people in your life you respect) and plan it out. Major crises happen and will change these things! (lost job, accidents, etc., acts of God). Determine your proper balance, get on target, and stay on target.
Quotes for the Day:
“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”
~ Charles Buxton, 1873
“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.”
~ Zig Ziglar, 1972
Action: Here’s your takeaway — wherever you are, be fully present. When you’re at work, be at work. Don’t be on Instagram. Don’t be on the phone with your friends. Be a good steward of your job. When you’re at home, be there! Not on the phone; not on the laptop; not on FaceBook — be with your family. Be fully present, physically and mentally. Life in Rhythm. That honors God and accomplishes most. I am not saying that work is more important than family — God is our first love, then family, then work. What I am saying is everything has it’s place and that is proper balance. And that’s okay. Be present in it all. Plan it. Do it. If you don’t plan it, how will you know when it’s out-of-balance?
Pray: Lord, make me present at the moment in everything I do!
That’s it! Much love and blessings, see you tomorrow!
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