How can we possible manage it — this idea of balance — when we're pulled in a thousand different directions? We shift roles by the hour, sometimes by the minute or second.

We not only shift, we multitask — mothering, ministering, shopping, working, cleaning, nurturing, encouraging, and teaching, to name a few.

Honestly, balance seems laughable. As unattainable as spending our entire lives en pointe, perfectly positioned on the tips of bruised toes with smiles that belie our efforts.

But I wonder if we’ve misunderstood this balance thing.

Instead of seeking to put each task, each responsibility in its perfect place where it takes up just the right amount of time and energy... instead of putting prima ballerina expectations on ourselves and our schedules, maybe we should consider a new possibility.

Balance isn’t finding the perfect position; balance is allowing God to move us.

Like the ocean tides ebb and flow, like the trees bend in the wind, we too are called to flex — finding balance in gently swaying back and forth, rather than in some elusive single point.

The Holy Spirit's breezes may blow a little differently on our lives each day:

One day prompting us to set "urgent" tasks aside to answer our eight year-old’s two hundred questions;
The following evening to put the inquisitive eight-year-old to bed early, to create quality time with our husband.

One week enabling us to put twenty hours on the clock, blessing our family with added income;
Another week, cutting our hours back to bless our struggling pre-teen.

One moment calling us to an exciting new ministry;
The next moment, asking us to set our ambition aside to minister to a hurting friend.

It’s not as much about schedules — as helpful as they can be — as it is about sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

When our hearts are yielded to Jesus rather than bound to our day planner, we are free to be moved — or to be stilled — by Him.

Before we cut back or sign up, before we go on vacation or take the overtime hours, before we fill all that white space on our calenders, let's hold our palms open before the Lord. Let's give Him our hearts, our time, our jobs, our dreams, our families.

Let's listen to His whispers. He’ll let us know what to do as we walk through each day with Him.

Our hope for sanity and peace does not rest in our ability to control; our hope for true balance is in surrender to Christ.

Let's let Him move us.