Would you believe me if I said that you don’t need balance in your life?

It seems counter-intuitive doesn’t it? In fact, if I didn’t know better I would say that “balance” would be a terrific goal for a New Year.

There’s just one problem———I know better.

This post will publish the week of my 55^th birthday. Reaching “double nickel” has taught me two things:

Ironically, I’ve been in pursuit of balance for nearly as long as I can remember. You too? Maybe your balancing act looked like mine?

Balancing relationships.

Balancing recreation.

Balancing work.

Balancing self-care.

Balancing faith.

Balancing budget.

Balancing commitments.

Balance. Balance. Balance.

Organizing, planning, and doing ahead all help with balance. But I don’t think those strategies can ever completely eliminate the feeling that one mismove may cause it all to topple.

I wish I had figured out sooner what I’m about to share.

We don’t need balance when our lives are weighted by God’s glory.

When you and I are in the mess of things, in the middle of this crazy, busy life there is a peace we can experience when we’ve invited God into it.

It can seem like a weird place to interject God’s glory. It’s easy to think that His glory should be reserved for imagined scenes of angels atop a manger and light streaming for all to see.

But His glory is bigger than that. Better than that. Because it’s available year-round. It’s intended to travel with us and reside in us.

God’s glory is meant to be in our midst and God’s glory is good.

I hope to have supper with Moses someday, the stories He could tell! But of all His recollections there is one that interests me the most. It’s the moment He was ready to throw in the towel.

The Israelites had been bad doobies. Mo’ had been gone for a very long time, over a month to be exact. No doubt the Israelites felt abandoned. When God doesn’t show up when and how we expect, it’s easy to think we’re in it alone.

The Israelites responded like many of us would have. They found another God.

Actually, they created one. It was an idol shaped in the form of a calf covered in gold. You and I know it was just a stupid cow but I’ll bet it looked pretty. It sparkled. And when the light hit it just right I’ll bet it felt like glory had come back.

Of course, there is no substitute for real glory…God’s glory. And God wouldn’t allow His people to have anything less. The price was high. Three thousand men were killed. Do-overs can be oh, so costly.

A sober Moses was now in the position of starting over and of all the things He could have asked God for He asked for this,

Moses needed to know that God was IN this.

This bold request was preceded by an equally bold statement from Moses. Just prior, the conversation between God and Moses was about Moses asking God to travel with them.

In Hebrew, the word ‘travel’ is qereb (keh’rev).  By definition it means to be in our midst——our middle——inside of us, literally “in our guts”.  Moses wasn’t asking for a triple-A agent. Moses wanted God to be present in a deep, visceral way.

His request to see God’s glory came at a moment when balance was as far removed from his life as broccoli is from a French fry.  Moses was desperate for God’s glory.

The Eternal One replied,

Wow. Do you know what that tells me?

God’s glory is GOOD.

Did Moses have an inkling of how good God’s glory was?  Don’t know. But we do know that God’s goodness was so big He had to protect Moses from seeing it all.

If 2018 is already starting to look like the crazies of 2017 do this one thing——–

Invite God’s Glory.

Deadline missed? “God… be glorified in this regardless.”

Child misbehaving? “Lord… may your glory be present no matter what.”

Marriage rocky? “Father… bind us so that your glory, your goodness will shine.”

Our crazy lives don’t need balance when they are weighted by God’s glory. His presence in our midst, in the deepest parts of our hearts generates what is needed most.

Peace. Purpose. Joy.

My prayer for 2018?

“Travel with me Lord. I need you more than I need balance.”

Savoring the journey with you,

Cindy