Balance

I know it's been a while since I posted a new entry. Actually, my family and I were in Florida last week, and I had planned to get up early each day on vacation to create some posts and share some photos while everyone else was still asleep. However, there were some technical issues and I wasn't able to get that done. I woke up this morning with a very long "to do" list whirling around in my mind. There were many things that needed to get accomplished today, now that we are home and back into our normal hectic lifestyle. One of the things on my "to do list" was to write today's post as well as some future ones, in an effort to get into a more scheduled, predictable and professional blogging routine.
My husband is a baker for a retail food chain, and needs to be at work by 4:00 am on weekdays and 3:00 am on weekends, so our alarm goes off at a very early (almost obscene) hour. As I was pouring our coffee this morning, and trying to get back into the swing of being up so early, I clicked on my email and decided to glance at a few blogs as I packed Dave's lunch. I justified taking a few minutes to check in with my favorite bloggers by saying they would inspire me to get back into the routine of writing my own posts as soon as Dave left for work, and then I could attack the multitude of other things that needed to get accomplished today.  However, the newest post that Marian, aka Miss Mustard Seed, wrote stopped me in my tracks.  Her post was about finding balance, and it struck a chord with me. Dave and I are notorious for having crazy schedules and often taking on more than we should. I also see our oldest child getting into the same routine as he is a full time college student, works, and is starting his own business as well. Marian's words about balance, and making "priority lists" and not "to-do" lists hit home and reminded me of a book I read and this post that I wrote last year.
It's very easy to get caught up in a hectic lifestyle and not feeling like you are being productive unless you are doing more, accomplishing more, and accumulating more. There are so many blessings in life that we can miss if we don't take the time to slow down and appreciate them. Our health can suffer and we can pay a big price for committing to too much or for trying to be a perfectionist. So, before you begin your day, and your week, I encourage you to read today's post on the Miss Mustard Seed blog and consider the great advice Marian offers about setting limits, taking care of yourself, and prioritizing.  As you search for the ever elusive balance in life, I also want to again quote a passage from the book I mentioned in the post I wrote last year. I quoted this passage before, but Marian's post brought it to mind today, so I think it is worth repeating. It was written by James Patterson in the book Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas.... "Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends and integrity. And you're keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls -family, health, friends, integrity- are made of glass. If you drop one of these it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life." I'll leave you with that thought and the photo below from our vacation for now. I'll back later this week with some photos, some recipes and maybe even some projects as we get ready to move from one season into the next. Although this isn't the post I had planned to write today, after reading Marian's thoughts on balance, it seemed like a fitting way to ease out of vacation mode and back into reality. As you go about your day trying to juggle all of the balls in your life, please remember to take care of yourself and notice the beauty and blessings that surround you.