Balance

What happens when our life is out of balance?

Recently, my volleyball season ended, but throughout the season I realized something. Am I really still putting God first? Is volleyball taking over my time with Him? Is my stress over school also causing strain on my relationship with Him? This made me realize how important balance in your life is. Yes, extracurricular activities are fun and they may be important, but they shouldn’t be your number one priority in life.

We need to remember what the most important thing is life is: it’s our relationship with God. Everything else in life pales in comparison with that. There is nothing else in the world that could save you. Yes, homework is important, but it isn’t the number one priority, is it?

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Now that the volleyball season is over, I started to look back on how it affected my relationship with Him. There were many nights where I got home late… sometimes after 10 or 11:00 at night. Even on regular practice days I didn’t usually get home until at least 8:00, then I would have to work on homework and then get ready for bed and the next day. I started stressing about homework and that became my second priority. Sadly, I now realize that volleyball was my number one priority. I regretted every night where I went to bed and didn’t fully dive into my devotions. I would be “too tired” to talk to the One who cares the most about me. “Too tired” to give Him some time.

Some days, the most I would do would be to read through the Verse of the Day and reflect on it and see what God was speaking to me through the verse… but one verse does not save you. YOU NEED BALANCE!! That message was screaming at me during the season. When one thing in your life is out of whack, your whole life starts to become out of whack.

Sometimes we need to give things up to be able to focus on Him more. If you personally know me, you may know that I have played soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Because I realized how much playing volleyball this year has strained my relationship with Him, I made the decision to not play basketball this year. I know that’s only a small thing to give up, but I ask you this question: Are you willing to give something up to spend more time with Him? And what are you willing to give up to do so?

We need to keep the Main Thing our main focus. Nothing else should come in the way of that.

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Something else I want to ask you is, what is your number one priority? Is [insert something you love] taking up the time that we should be spending with God?

Now I struggle in this area too. I’m pretty sure we all do. This is just a reminder for us all that most things in our life are temporary. The only things that aren’t temporary are 1) our relationship with God and 2) our relationships with people. We need to focus on those things… especially number 1.