The Myth of the "Balanced" Life

As I was praying and running this moring a thought reoccurred to me:  A balanced life is not worth living.  The thought was not original.  In fact, it was another thought from John Ortberg's fantastic book "The Life You've Always Wanted."  The other day I spoke of the difference between training and trying.  The concept comes from Ortberg's book as well.  (At the time I knew it came from Ortberg, but I just came across his book on my book shelf and took the time to scan through it.  I found that both ideas came from it.)

The reason a balanced life is not worth living, in fact the reason that a balanced life is--or at least ought to be--a myth is that balance is not a worthy goal in our lives.  Balance is, as Ortberg puts it, "a middle class goal."  The myth of balance tells us that we have "compartments" in our lives.  These compartments are:  recreational, relational, financial, spiritual, vocational, physical, intellectual, emotional, etc...  The problem is to compartmentalize spirituality as one of many "pieces" of the "pie" called life, is to assume that I'm not being spiritual when I'm making money, or playing basketball, or talking with a new acquaintance.  In reality, spirituality is (or ought to be) part of who I am in all areas and aspects of life.  I've found that when I'm living passionately in the name of Jesus that ALL areas of my life reflect Him.  That's also my goal.  I don't want an evenly balanced "pie", with all the "pieces" the same size and shape.  I want Jesus to be pouring in, under, over and through ALL the "pieces" of my "pie"!  The next time you find yourself thinking that you need more "balance" in your life, pause and ask God to give you more JESUS in your life!  What will follow will be way better---and undoubtedly way more challenging than a balanced life.