Giving Up The Balancing Act

Many times it's seemed to me that life is a balancing act. There are so many things vying for my time and attention and if I balance them just right then I can pull it all off and all is well in my world.  But what I've been learning is that the whole concept of a balancing act in many cases is nothing more than an illusion.  Let me explain.

Many of the urgent things that shout for my time and fill up my calendar at least aren't things that need to be on my plate in the first place.  Society, false messages and just ourselves can have us believe that unless we are balancing a and b and c and d, and don't forget about e, then we are somehow cheating ourselves and the people around us.  What I've been learning is that I often when I'm cheating myself, God or others it doesn't come down to my balancing skills, it comes down to filling my plate with things that should have never been there to begin with.

As a result I'm learning to define my life, and thus my time, by a very strict list of priorities, constantly reminding myself that urgent doesn't mean essential and that one day God is going to ask me what I did with what He placed in front of me and I'm going to be accountable for that; not for what I placed myself in front of or in the middle of.