Think of a bike. It is always slightly off balance, either to one side or the other. Actually, this is precisely how it stays balanced. Life and work are like this. Don\u2019t be fooled when you hear people talking about work\/life balance, as though there is some kind of Utopia out there where everything in your life is in perfect balance. There isn\u2019t. It\u2019s an impossible dream. The sooner we realise this and stop pursuing the unachievable, the better off we\u2019ll be. Elite athletes have to build rest into their training programmes. If they don\u2019t, muscles will never recover and they will not see the benefits of training. Psychologically, top-level athletes need rest too. Otherwise, they just burn out and become demotivated. This applies absolutely to our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people live by the mantra \u2018work hard, play hard!\u2019 There may be something in this! How great would it be to be able to be 100% in the zone when playing sport, or whatever you do to relax, and 100% \u2018present\u2019 with our wives and families when we\u2019re with them, as well as giving 100% to our work when we\u2019re doing that! But just be careful here. I\u2019ve known too many men over the years give the best of themselves to a place that isn\u2019t going to grow them one inch \u2013 their work. Work hard at your work, whatever it is, as an ambassador for Christ, but ultimately know this: if you dropped dead tomorrow, they\u2019ll say: \u201cHe was a nice fella, next!\u201d but all too often, we realise this too late. It\u2019s true that nobody ever said on their deathbed: \u201cI wish I\u2019d spent more time in the office.\u201d As people lie there taking their final breaths, they don\u2019t seem to be interested in asking to see their bank account one last time, or even a list of their achievements. Instead, they want to be surrounded by that most precious gift of God: people. When it comes to God\u2019s people, never stray too far away from that greatest invention of God: His church. It\u2019s here that we learn a Godly sense of balance for our lives. Of all the ways it is possible to describe Jesus, \u2018balanced\u2019 isn\u2019t necessarily one of them. He was something of an extremist fanatic, and yet when we look for a perfect model of how to live a truly balanced life in all the ways that life was designed to be lived, Jesus stands head and shoulders above all others as our supreme example. Be fanatical and obsessive about whatever it is you are doing in its time and in its place. The notion that everything in life fits into a neat box labelled \u2018balance\u2019 simply doesn\u2019t work and can lead to a half-hearted approach to everything if we are not careful. Be a passionate man of God who gives your all to everything you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work at becoming a balanced fanatic!<\/strong>\u00a0<\/pre>\n\n\n\n\u201cWhatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.\u201d<\/p>Colossians 3:23<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Image Credit: Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n
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