Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,  a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Time. What do we do with our time? How do we balance it?

I’m sure you’ve heard about the game Jenga. It’s a balancing act, is it not? Now I know nothing about this game other than it truly is a balancing act. Never played it. So I literally had to look it up.

I discovered that its creator is one Leslie Scott, and that Hasbro markets it. The word itself comes from the Swahili word kujenga. Kujenga means “to build.” And that’s what you do. One person builds a tower of 54 wooden blocks. The person who built the tower gets to go first. Now the object of the game begins.

You must take one block from any level of the tower and then place it on the topmost level. There’s a whole bunch of other stuff that must go on, but suffice it to say if you knock the tower down—you lose.

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I would totally suck at this game simply because I don’t have the patience for stuff like that. But I must say that Jenga fits in quite well with this blog segment because it’s all about balancing. Feel free to check out the 1980 Jenga video. It will give you a chuckle.

So how does one balance spiritual time? If you had to add just one more thing to your life, do you feel like you’d collapse? Does life and the world today feel out of balance? It brings to mind the Las Vegas massacre, doesn’t it? Out of balance. What do I mean by that? Let’s look at the 2017 Las Vegas massacre. It was a sudden and unexpected crisis. The people attending the festival were caught off guard. Here they were enjoying a concert when suddenly danger rained down on them from a hidden and elevated position. This type of sudden onslaught of stress, grief, or crisis causes chaos. In life, being off balance can feel exactly like that. When these things happen out of nowhere, it leaves one feeling completely defenseless. A complete loss of control.

But the problem with massacres of this kind goes deeper than just passing more legislation in the hopes of trying to fix it, because it’s more than legislation. It’s spiritual disease. Laws only regulate a person’s outward behavior. It can’t cure inward brokenness. All that legislation can do is ban specific weapons, punish crimes after they happen, and change security protocols. It can’t force a person to value life, possess empathy, or even love.

Maybe we simply need Jesus. The answer is found in Him. We know this because when His love enters our hearts, there’s no way we can hate. It transforms lives on a global and individual level. Jesus can heal the spiritual disease. Jesus can restore balance in our lives.

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So, where does it begin? It begins on an individual level. Time for all of us is clearly a struggle. The truth is, we’ll never get it balanced completely. But we can walk toward it.

As in the scriptures listed, there is a time for everything. Not that there is time for everything. When our schedules get out of balance, fatigue sets in. Over-scheduling brings on crankiness.

Take an inventory and make a plan. Look at your schedule, categorize your priorities. That way, you can assess the things you can control. Luke 2:52 speaks to the life of Jesus and how He balanced His time. It reads: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” We don’t know a lot about His growing-up years, but from this scripture, we know:

1. He increased in wisdom—grew Himself.
   
2. He increased in stature—took care of His body.
   
3. He increased in favor with God—grew in spirit and with humanity.
   

Mind-Body-Spirit-Relationships: That’s how Jesus balanced out His time.

We should try not to back down from staying focused. Remembering that discipline equals discipleship. And to also remember that even God took a day off. We need that time of rest. It centers us. It helps us establish a pattern for our lives.

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To that end, we must be realistic and flexible. Remember when your kids were two years old? Remember how they acted like they were two years old? I say, if you can’t be two when you’re two, when can you be two?

Every season brings challenges. Can you pick out the blessings? Here’s a goal: have dinner together each night. Now here’s the reality: it doesn’t always happen. But figure it out. Make it happen.

For instance, my mother demanded a quiet dinnertime. She even dressed for dinner and tried desperately to impress upon me the importance of dinnertime and dressing nicely. As you can see from this photo, I wasn’t into the girly girl ensembles like my mother. Truth be told, I was a bit rebellious and didn’t want to dress for dinner.

Be kind to yourself. Newsflash! You ain’t perfect. Be realistic. Meaning don’t try to do everything every single day perfectly. You need time to relax even if it’s just for a little while. For instance, I remember when my husband and I used to dance in the den. We have three kids. We both worked forty-plus hours a week. Days were overflowing with work, home chores, parenting, and making decisions, be they simple or important. On Friday nights when our kids were down for the night, we would go downstairs, turn the stereo on low, and there we would dance in the den. Peace, calm, relaxing.

Find your center in Christ. It’s so difficult because we want to put ourselves there. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” So, putting the Lord first puts Him in the Center. Then, surprisingly, all falls into place. He gives you the strength to deal with all the different challenges of the seasons.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a favorite of mine. The song, “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” by the Byrds, written by Pete Seeger and released in 1962, is a song taken from this very scripture. I chose it as part of the music for my wedding. It’s beautiful. Take a moment to check it out. It will make you smile.

In the meantime, try this in the morning—take three minutes to get centered. Now, pray. It works to keep the day centered. Spend your time wisely. Wasting time is the worst kind of extravagance. Make time to enjoy quiet and relaxing dinners with your family. At the end of the week, try dancing in the den with your spouse.

You’ll find this will help with your balance of time. It’s that time-centered thing.

And that’s what I learned in Church…see ya next time!