Balance is the Key

by | Nov 17, 2012

Mark 6:30-31   The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught, And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”  For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

There are times we need to just stop doing for a bit and rest, find that place of solitude so you can regroup.  It is easy Ladies to get caught up in all the tasks of life until we are burned out and frustrated.  I have even found that I can get so caught up in taking care of the needs of everyone around me and I don’t take care of myself.  In order to be as effective in our service on any level we must take the time to nurture ourselves. Jesus knew that his disciples had been spent with all that they had been doing to the point where they weren’t even able to stop and eat (sound familiar ladies?) and that is why He told them it was time to find a “desolate place and rest” for a bit.

There is always something that needs to be done and some of us are worse than others when it comes to taking on the world and working ourselves to death taking care of every task that comes our way.  I have to be careful though on the other side of things as well because I can get so busy that by the time I decide to take a break the rest can feel so good that I need a push to get started again.  If you notice in the verses right after this one, they jumped right back in to service.  All throughout the stories in the New Testament about Jesus you see where He would go somewhere and get alone with God and pray and since He is our example we need to be sure that we don’t get so busy doing that we aren’t taking the time to get alone and pray and read our Bibles.  As Joyce Meyer likes to say, “Don’t ever try to work God into your schedule; work your schedule into God.”

Balance is the key, serve and be served, pray and ask God if there are areas that you need to find balance in.  God will give you the discernment to know when you are doing too much or not enough if you just pray and ask and then listen!  Listening to the Holy Spirits leading is the key to deciding whether it is time to take on a new task or get away and rest.  When we are rested and led by God to do something we are far more effective doing it.  If we take on the world and don’t have time to take care of ourselves we become cold in our service, just doing it without loving it.  Martha and Mary were classic examples of exactly this, Martha naturally wanted to serve but her service became a burden when she didn’t realize she had passed by her time of rest and listening to Jesus so she could “serve” Him.  She was frustrated feeling as though it was all on her shoulders but if she had just taken the time to sit at the feet of Jesus she would have realized that eventually it would all still get done but she wouldn’t have been serving bitterly alone.  Jesus told her that Mary had chosen better by just being still and taking the time to hear what He had to say.  Where are you this morning?  Have you had your rest and need a shove so you will get started serving again or are you so burned out that you can barely stand what you are doing to serve any more?  Sometimes it is time to allow someone else the opportunity to serve by stepping aside and there are other times when it is time to get up and come along side the person who is playing Martha and doing it all themselves and missing out on time with God because they are too busy.  Ask God today which one you are if you don’t already know and then follow His leading today.

Quote:  “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”  Zig Ziglar

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