Balance. I wince slightly when I hear the word. I am not known for being good at balancing. On the physical level I can stand on one foot for about two seconds. I struggle with standing on two feet. I’ve never been able to balance my checkbook. And in other areas of my life, I find balance equally challenging.
It seems that whatever I do, if I am passionate about it, I will get out of balance. And most of the time God uses people in my life to point it out to me. Generally, Mark and the kids. I don’t necessarily like it, but I need it. If it were left up to me I would either spend all my time writing or conversing or decorating and little to nothing would ever get done.
But today was different. The realtor that we picked through relocation was coming this afternoon to go over paperwork with us and use her “white gloves” to tell us anything that needed work before pictures and being put on the market next week. I got up this morning and went straight to work. Suddenly I saw my house through the eyes of a prospective buyer and I went into the zone. The “I Can’t See Anything Else Right Now” zone. I move like the wind. My creative wheels start turning and I go into cleaning and redesigning mode. I hear very little around me. I go into a type of trance with one purpose and one purpose only. I work hard. I work fast. And I sweat like no other. And at some point I start to feel the urge to go into panic mode if there is a time limit. Stress works its way through my body. Not fun for me or anyone around me. But today instead of getting to that point, instead of going into freak out mode, Jesus spoke to me. Not through anyone else. Just Himself. It was quiet and sweet. Just a gentle reminder that He was there and wanted to be part of the process with me. He told me this while I was cleaning the mirror in the guest bathroom.
Since everyone else in my house was gone, I was glad that He wanted to help. My thought was that He could take on some of the tasks and projects and I would take the others. Efficiency. He seemed to smile and said He’d rather work alongside me – together. I truly smyled out loud. He knew me so well. He knew that I have so many ideas and so little time. He gave me my creative side, an attribute of His own, so of course it made sense that He wanted to share it with me.
It was precious. I enjoyed His company so much. I leaned into His great ideas that He passed on. We laughed together as I tried to rush certain things and then ended up taking more time to fix them. We planted flowers together and I marveled at the beauty of all the colors and shapes and sizes that He had created and designed. And I gotta say…we did real good! The realtor was really excited, and there are only a couple more things (painting over a “whipped cream fight” wall, for one) and it is good to go. If I walked into my house today, I would want to buy it….oh wait, I already did that a few years ago…
So next Thursday, the photographer comes to do his magic with taking pictures to go in flyers and magazines and online, along with a virtual tour. If you happen to take a peek, look at each room and see if you can tell which parts were Jesus inspired. 🙂
It was a good, good day. And because Jesus and I partnered up, I stayed in balance. And it felt dang nice. And though not all my days will be this productive creatively, all my days can see balance in each area of my life if I listen to His voice whispering in my ear…”I’m right here. Let’s do this thing!”
