Dec 4, 2025 – Balance
The last of the sayings that popped up the other morning on the digital photo frame was by Albert Einstein:
LIFE IS LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE. TO KEEP YOUR BALANCE, YOU MUST KEEP MOVING.
New p. 20 – Faith is part of a balanced life. Downs encourages, “Allow God into your heart. Let Him into those little places inside that are hurt and alone and afraid. Let Him love you, lead you, and make you into the courageous person He has planned – because I promise that adventure will be the greatest of your life…. Has He given you a passion for something you haven’t been brave enough to pursue…. Whatever it is, embrace the fact that you are loved and chosen by God, and take the courageous step of using these passions to love God back.”
Psalm 86:15 – “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
JC – “As you spend time in My Presence, My thoughts gradually form in your mind. My Spirit is the director of this process.” Call on the Holy Spirit to help keep things in balance. “Sometimes He brings Bible verses to mind. Sometimes He enables you to hear Me ‘speak’ directly to you. These communications strengthen you and prepare you for whatever is before you on your life path. Take time to listen to My voice. Through your sacrifice of precious time, I bless you far more than you dare to ask.”
Power – “You are created by the hand of God, on purpose, and you are an unrepeatable miracle. There is nobody else exactly like you. There never will be anybody else exactly like you. And God has an amazingly wonderful plan for your life.
Streams – Matthew 14:23 – “He went up on a mountain by himself.” Cowman shares from selected sources, “Strength is found not in busyness and noise but in quietness. For a lake to reflect the heavens on its surface, it must be calm. Our Lord loved the people who flocked to him, but there are numerous accounts in the scriptures of his going away from them for a brief period of time…. The one thing we need today more than anything else is to spend time alone with our Lord, sitting at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, how we need to reclaim the lost art of meditation! Oh, how we need ‘the secret place’ (Psalm 91:1 KJV) as part of our lifestyle! Oh, how we need the power that comes from waiting upon God!” Only by taking this quiet time with Him, can our faith be seen in the busyness and trials of our lives.
“Every life that desires to be strong must have its ‘Most Holy Place’ (Ex. 26:33) into which only God enters.”
Utmost – Revelation 2:7 – “To him that overcometh….” I’m including Chambers’ devotion in its entirety: “Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life. ‘
Health is the balance between physical life and external nature, and it is maintained only by sufficient vitality on the inside against things on the outside. Everything outside my physical life is designed to put me to death. Things which keep me going when I’m alive, disintegrate me when I am dead. If I have enough fighting power, I produce the balance of health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a vigorous mental life, I have to fight, and in that way the mental balance called thought is produced.
Morally it is the same. Everything that does not partake of the nature of virtue is the enemy of virtue in me, and it depends on what moral caliber I have whether I overcome and produce virtue. Immediately I fight, I am moral in that particular. No man is virtuous because he cannot help it; virtue is acquired.
And spiritually it is the same. Jesus said – ‘In the world you shall have tribulation,’ i.e., everything that is not spiritual makes for my undoing, but – ‘be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’ I have to learn to score off the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness; then it becomes a delight to meet opposition. Holiness is the balance between my disposition and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.”
The words of Jesus above come from John 16:33. I spoke these words at my boyfriend’s funeral when I was 17. I did lose my balance for a while after that shocking tragedy. There will be seasons of imbalance throughout our lives, but we must be diligent to move back to a healthier stasis. If I had clung to the sadness and loss, I would have missed so many of the blessings that were still ahead for me in life. The idea of balance makes me also think of the phrase “everything in moderation” which, according to AI in Google, “is rooted in ancient Greece…. [but] is often attributed to Oscar Wilde,” who said, “everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Since this is getting long, I was going to stop there, but I want to allow for others in the group who may have something to contribute:
Prevail 338 – 1 Peter 1:7 – “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.” Larson writes, “Every moment of our lives is packed with eternal potential. Hidden in every trial is an opportunity for faith. Every blessing comes with an invitation to be a generous steward. Every setback provides the chance to persevere and mature. We want relief. God wants to redeem our story…. Don’t waste your trials. God tempers the storms so they will not destroy you. He allows enough hardship to refine you. And He provides ample opportunity for your faith to reward you.”
JA – “I WANT YOU TO TRUST Me enough to relax and enjoy My Presence. I did not design you to live in a state of hyper-vigilance – feeling and acting as if you were constantly in the midst of an emergency. Your body is wonderfully crafted to ‘gear up’ when necessary and then to ‘gear down’ when the crisis is over.” Balance. Moderation. Young continues the devotion, “But because you live in such a broken world, you find it difficult to let down your guard and relax…I am with you all the time…Pour out your heart to Me…. As you relax in My healing Light, I shine Peace into your mind and heart.”
Ahhhh, balance.
