Awhile back, I decided on a whim to pick up a yoga video at Target. I wasn’t in the market for an exercise video, and had I been, I promise I would not have been looking for one featuring yoga moves. I have never been flexible whatsoever, always marveling at the other girls’ ability to do odd things with their bodies in PE class while simultaneously trying to hide to keep from showing my own inability to do the same. Yoga, clearly, has never been my thing.
Once I got the video, though, I decided I kind of loved it. No impact to hurt my knees, and as a major plus, I was not required to put shoes on (or even get dressed) to work out.
I liked that.
One thing I’ve perpetually had a hard time with, though, are the strict balancing poses. Take Warrior 3, for instance.
Warrior 3
(This is not me.)
In order to do this crazy position, I have to focus intently on something on the floor. It’s usually a fuzz ball or other spot on the carpet. Nothing special, but it’s enough to garner my attention and keep my focus for the billion seconds I’m required to hold the pose. Because I usually work out late in the evening, I have often already replaced my contact lenses with my glasses when I am attempting these bizarre moves. I start to sweat before I get far into the routine, and the glasses come off, making it impossible to see – much less focus on – my critical focal point.
When I have a point on which I can focus, I can almost do this crazy stuff as it was intended. When I have nothing to grab and keep my attention, it’s hopeless. I begin to wobble. In order to keep from smashing my face on the coffee table, I begin grabbing for anything I can to keep myself upright.
Life is like that for us, I think. We’re being asked to do so many things – so many crazy things, really. Much of what we face every day is superfluous to the critical human condition but is, nonetheless, an integral part of our normal lives. We find ourselves doing bizarre things: putting makeup on at stoplights, talking on the phone in public restrooms (ugh), eating meal after meal from paper wrappers instead of plates, sleeping sitting up at our desks, doing laundry while cooking supper and making lunches and helping with homework and tripping over the cat. We’re doing all of these weird things, akin to posing on a rock with our leg up in the air (see above), and we have to find some way to make it work.
And then….just when we find our focus…..just when we’re able to focus in on God and make Him the central focal point of it all…..just when it’s all starting to work, maybe just a little……something enters into the picture to sabotage us. We lose our focus and, with it, our ability to just carry on.
Without focus, we have no balance. With no balance, we again regress into mere existence. Survival mode. Grasping onto anything we can to hold us up.
We all have these “balance busters,” as I like to call them, that move in and steal our attention. They take our focus off what is important, and eliminate the equilibrium we’ve worked so hard to obtain. Many times, they enter the picture and make it impossible to find balance in the first place. We’re going to look closely at some of the common balance busters over the next few days. As we begin looking at these, I suggest you try to identify some of the examples from your own life. It’s a personal examination we’ll all undergo together.
Thanks for tuning in – I hope to see you again tomorrow as we discuss worldly attitudes versus kingdom perspectives, and the role they play in setting us off balance. Blessings for your day today.
This is part of a 31-day series on balanced living. Click here to read the introduction to this series, and click here to read all of the posts.