Balancing Act.

When talking to people about a variety of issues with important questions regarding faith, politics, health, and better living, I hear this phrase:

Find balance.

Even in the daily interactions with people, I'm confused with mixed messages. 

Should I let go or hold on? 

It's about letting go but still holding on. Wha?

Should I show humility or confidence? 

You've got to be humbly confident. Huh?

Embrace your the reality of your pain. 

Live each day positively.  No one likes a negative Nancy (or Kristin).

Sometimes you've got to show love they don't deserve. 

They had it coming. It's just not fair.

  

Humility Confidence Grace Justice Accepting pain Being real Joy Freedom Obedience God's will My decisions

Much like looking at this guy, finding "balance"  is something that makes me a little uneasy. 

I am someone who likes structure and clear, distinct answers, grey areas are overwhelming challenging based on being raised on the the ideal: "Stand up for what you believe in." and honestly, I find myself saying "But I don't know..." more then I'd like when faced with philosophical discussion about God and politics and world peace and other topics that boggle my mind.

Perhaps I'm talking to the wrong people and some of you older and wiser folks may attribute this to age and my current place in life and over time I'm sure I'll become more confident in the grey areas that I'm morally faced with today. Also, with searching my heart and discovering who God is, I gain confidence to share my thoughts, opinions, or insights with support.

I especially thought of this idea of "balance" this last week in a class discussion I had with a group of young people, where we were talking about who God is and how we can't "put Him in a box" and define how He works.

In the middle of this banter, some guy (really... I don't know his name) says "I know we aren't always supposed to understand how God works and all but aren't we supposed to be 'certain of what we cannot see'?" I think he was on to something...

I've thought about this quite a bit this week and I find myself beginning to understand that being 'certain of what I cannot see' is accepting that all the opinions, stances, and philosophies I can take on in this life may be wrong or they could be right. Something that I do know is that there are things that are clear in God's word about how we should live our lives... but even these can be interpreted differently. 

One thing I do know is that God is God and God is good and I am not. When he says I'm the great "I AM" it gives me the ability to say "I'm not a know-it-all... and that's okay." That's the beauty of knowing a power higher than the human being and it's relieving to accept that I can be 'strong in what I believe' without understanding that my God is alive and that he works in ways that give us all differing perspectives. 

So, I end this post unresolved, letting God be God and I'll keep trying to understand Him, making the best possible decisions and forming a set of ideals with what I've been given.

There's a good chance I'll fall off the tightrope somewhere along the way.