Values (Part One): Balance

"In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there."
-Mark 1:35
      I'm taking a interesting class about engineering ethics (it's a required course for me). The professor gave us an activity to do- she put a list of different values on the board and asked us to pick our top five. I picked my top five, and then got the idea to write about the different values I chose for myself. Obviously the list was limited and I was not able to deeply think about which ones where my top five, but I did choose five. Starting today I want to write down a couple thoughts I have on why I chose these values.
      The first value I chose is balance. If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember that I wrote a post about relaxation. Even though I wrote that a long time ago, I still remember why I wrote it. It's so important to me that I take time to rest. I find that if I spend too much time doing homework or other work, I become quickly exhausted. On the other hand, if I spend too much time not doing anything important, I become lazy and unproductive. Balancing my life is definitely hard, because I never want to do work and I always want to relax, but a successful life is a balanced one.
      When I think of the word "balance", the phrase that comes to mind is "eat a balanced breakfast". What does that mean? It means eating enough of everything. You don't want to just each a lot of one thing, because you miss out on vital nutrients. Life should be the same way. We can't always do one thing, or we'll miss out on the importance of other tasks. What are the most common causes of not eating a balanced breakfast? Laziness, and eating only what we like. These are also reasons I have for not living a balanced life; I am often lazy and only do what I like. However, I'm missing out on important "nutrients".
      If you pay attention while reading my blog, you may notice that I choose verses at the beginning of my posts because I find that they relate to the topic in some way. You may be asking how Mark 1:35 relates to balance. Balance is important for physical life, but also for our spiritual life as well. When Jesus lived on this earth, He never just did one thing. He didn't just preach all the time, or heal people all the time. He took time to have fellowship with His disciples and with God. In Mark 1:35, Jesus took some time to pray to God in a secluded place. We can't expect to live an effective spiritual life if we only focus on certain things. We can't just focus on preaching, we have to spend time in prayer. We can't just focus on reading the Bible, we have to fellowship with our fellow believers. Balance is an important value that I have and I hope to implement more effectively in my life.
-Smart