The Juggling Act of Life |

Juggling. Go ahead and imagine with me balls or scarves continually being tossed around in a perfect circular arc, waiting to be caught…again, and again, again. It’s great to go someplace like the circus and watch someone who is a master of juggling perform this seemingly impossible feat, isn’t it? I always hold my breath, just waiting for when the inevitable will happen. You see, with juggling there are one of two things that are bound to happen. First – the act comes to an end, and the person rotating the objects is able to accomplish a nice closing, bringing all of the objects to a halt in a nice, orderly fashion. The other possibility is why I tend to hold my breath when watching a juggling act…something falls! No matter how much practice has gone into perfecting juggling, at some point or another something is going to fall…it’s just a matter of when.

I sort of relate how I have been feeling recently to a juggling act. Let me explain. I feel like I have all of these “balls” up in the air: planning or coordinating many different events and consequently the details of all of them are swirling around constantly in my head. We also have a HUGE garden and just thinking about our massive garden is one feat in itself, let alone picking the fruits and vegetables it produces…and don’t even get me started on the weeds! Of course, after picking all of said produce, I’ve got to do something with what I’ve acquired…which takes an incredible amount of time and energy to process! These previous things are in addition to my normal everyday responsibilities of being a mom to 4 kids: making sure they are clean, fed, paid attention to, not fighting all of the time, and trying to regulate media time, etc. Then there are the everyday household duties like laundry, dishes, and the rest of the messiness that comes along with a large family living in a home. I worry about relationships. My relationship with my husband – do I have enough to give him after giving so much of myself to so many other things earlier in the day? Relationships with my kids – feeling like a failure so much of the time for one reason or another. Relationships with my in-laws – trying to balance everything that is encompassed in those relationships because there is a whole other dimension and dynamic that is taken on when living with them. Then, of course in the back of my mind are the many other miscellaneous details of life nagging to be taken care of as well: bills that need to be paid {and wondering how exactly to stretch the money to ensure that will be accomplished}, groceries that need to be bought, health concerns, doctors appointments, calls and emails that need to be made or returned. So on and so forth. You get the picture.

We all have our own juggling act, don’t we? The items that I am juggling may be different from yours. The balls that I am juggling at this point in my time will be different than what I will be dealing with 6 months from now. This juggling act on our journey of life isn’t perfect. The inevitable will happen. Something will drop, we will forget something, fail at something, or disappoint someone. It’s life and it’s bound to happen. You know though, God doesn’t want us to stress over these varying aspects and repetitions of life. Sure, we need to be responsible, but The Bible says in Matthew 6:25-34, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

So, as you sit and read this while contemplating your juggling act of life, I want to encourage you to first take a deep breath…just like I’ve had to remind myself to do recently. Take these words from the Bible and apply them to your life today. If you are weary and stressed about the day to day juggle and struggles of your life I want to encourage you to seek first Christ’s kingdom and He will work out all of the details! Jesus needs to be at the center. He has an amazing, supernatural way of working things out His way, when we decide to put HIM as the central and focal point of our lives as individuals. He has a way of calming the storms of life, and helps us to manage when we don’t feel like we can.

Finally, be encouraged with these words from Psalm chapter 46, which have resonated in my spirit while working through my juggling act:
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.