Every October, The Nester hosts 31 Days of [Whatever is on your mind for 31 very long days]. Those participating are invited to write about the topic of their choice every single day for an entire month (hence the 31 days). I have always heard of challenges like this, and have always admired those who felt they could do it. (Read: I’ve never, ever thought I’d be in a place where I thought I could do something like that.) This year, though, with the support and encouragement from a number of friends, I’m embarking on this journey. It has already been a journey, as I hope to show you, and I am looking forward to what the Lord may have in store for me during this time…and for you, too, if you should join me along the way.
Because God has made it plainly aware that it should be my theme as I do this, I will be doing 31 Days of Balance. I’ll be looking at balance from a biblical perspective and, hopefully, uncovering some truths that will help me to find (and maintain) some sort of emotional/spiritual/mental balance as I make my way through life.
My thinking is this: I am always hurrying….planning….working….rushing from one thing to another, never able to fully focus on the task at hand because in my mind I am dwelling on something that already happened or have moved on to something that may or may not happen at some point in the future. It’s worry. It’s anxiety. It’s stress and IMbalance and unrest. When you get down to it, it’s a self-destructive habit that steals joy from life. Really, it steals LIFE from life. And that, friends, is what I hope to discover through this challenge. LIFE. Life as it should be. Life as it can be. Life as, I believe, God would have me life it.
My church is, strangely, doing a sermon series this month on this very topic, and I delivered the first of the messages in the series. The idea of balance has really been coming at me from all sides, so I have every confidence that this is a journey that I’ve been led to embark upon.
While I have little idea where this is going to go I do know that it will go somewhere. I hope that you’ll join me.
Also plan to visit my friend Jessica, who is participating in this daunting endeavor along with me and writing on the topic of communicating with our children. Because she is an incredible and inspiring mom, I know that her posts will challenge all of us who call ourselves parents.
This is day one, so we’ll see you tomorrow!