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Life/Work Balance

by Pete Schrank

The Stewardship Committee gave this article the title Life/Work Balance but it could just as easily have been titled God/Life Balance.

When we look up the word balance, we see “a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportion”.  Balance keeps us upright and steady in our path through this life and into the next.  We use this balance to prioritize career and ambition goals with family and spiritual goals.  As we read from the Gospels,”What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”  We all want to be successful in our career, to provide for our family, to increase our self esteem, and to be a leader.  It is also human nature to thirst for spiritual growth, to become a better person, to care for others, to find a harmonious existence, and find that peace that surpasses human understanding.

As we know, all that we have and all that we need comes from God, so if He gives us everything, shouldn’t we give Him everything we have?  Should we all then quit our jobs and become missionaries? Not necessarily.  But the Lord does call us to use the talents which He has gifted us with.  So teachers teach, elders lead, singers sing songs of praise, and builders can build for the Lord.

But what does all this have to do with balance?  This is the time we look at our Church life and our home life and check that balance.  Prayerfully and quietly look at what is most important to you and your family.  We cannot be all work and no prayer, and feel in balance with the peace we search for.  I know many people have worked and worked to get that big promotion at work, to get that big house and fancy car, but this leads to career burnout.  Many business and entertainment superstars get to the top of the mountain and ask”Is this it?”, because there is no balance.  We need that purpose driven life that calls us to be Christ’s hands and feet, to bring those lost sheep back to him.  Pastor Warren asked, “How do you spell love?”His answer-“T-I-M-E”.  The time we spend serving the Church and serving God is how we love the Lord as He loved us first.  Time, talent, and treasure are all parts of the balance we search for.

Just a word of caution- a God/Life out of balance can also lead to spiritual burnout.  I have seen wonderful, strong Christians serve on one of the groups at church, sing in the choir, lead a Bible study, and become an usher.  After doing all this, they can begin to feel unappreciated, unfulfilled, and hard as this is to say, burned out on God!  If you do not get some amount of spiritual buzz (I know I do) from what you do at church, you need to search for what you can do here at CLC to make this happen. If you do get this wonderful feeling from helping out, make sure you share that with others so they can get the elements of God and life in the correct proportion.