One thing humans were not created with
is balance.
Oh sure, we balance well enough to
walk around (well, sometimes), but walking a slackline or tightrope is a skill
that takes discipline to learn.
And don’t start on being mentally or
emotionally balanced. Very few, if any, of us are all the time, and none of us are
without God.
Balance as a topic has been in the
back of my mind for several years. I even thought I’d choose it for my Word of
the Year sometime, though that has never fallen into place. Recently, however, I was inspired again, and I'd like to share my thoughts with you.
We all like to think that we are balanced. If we
thought we were in the ditch, after all, we’d make all haste to climb out. But the truth is that no one is
perfectly balanced in every area. Each and every one of us has our own ditches.
One of the areas that’s been on my
mind is how we think. Now I know some of this is purely subjective and due to
different personalities. I’m not trying to be critical of that. Neither am I
trying to disregard conviction.
But here’s what I’ve observed.
Most of us fall into one of two categories:
we are either black and white thinkers, or we sort of like gray.
Let me explain.
Black and white thinkers see things
very clearly. Maybe this could be traced back to our German ancestry, but it
seems to be quite a prevalent mindset. Things are either wrong or right. There
isn’t a lot of room for maneuvering or yielding to different points of view. Sometimes
it’s easy for those of us who think like this to become judgmental.
Gray thinkers are a lot more hesitant
to define their opinion. They tend to give a lot of room for different
perspectives. It can be hard for them to make judgment calls. They have a lot
of questions. Often those of us who are gray thinkers will tend to take a hands-off approach to other people's lifestyles and beliefs, sort of a live and let live attitude.
Now both of these thinkers are
important. Gray thinkers usually do well with being sensitive to other people’s
needs. They tend to ere on the side of mercy. Black and white thinkers are so
very important for setting boundaries and guidelines and providing structure.
But neither of these thinkers are
balanced on their own.
In a flash of inspiration, a thought hit me the other evening right in the middle of a conversation with
some friends. It occurred to me that when we are thinking
gray thoughts or black and white thoughts, we are using our human minds. Now, there is nothing wrong with using our human minds. God gave them to us for a purpose. But sometimes they get in the way of the vision God wants to provide us with.
When we let go of our human ideas, our fixation on black and white or gray, I
believe our thoughts will change completely. Our decisions will no longer be
based on our faulty notions of color. A whole new spectrum will
open up as we learn to let go of our unbalanced thoughts and learn to turn
completely to God and His Spirit for guidance. Instead of struggling with being
so judgmental or with guilt because we can’t seem to see anything but gray, we
will find freedom in looking at things in His light. We will find ourselves
transformed by the renewing of our minds, able to prove the will of God.
(Romans 12:2)
Our path forward will gain color and
it will be simple to follow the light that shines before us.
But it takes realizing our weaknesses.
It takes letting go of our own ideas. It takes sincerely calling for help. It
takes learning to walk circumspectly. (Ephesians 5:15) Most of all, it requires coming together as believers and learning to meld our different strong points into the beautiful vision God has for us.
In the current atmosphere of the world
around us, there are never-ending divisive subjects that are made a topic of
conversation. Sadly, it is easy for us to live in our ditches and let disapproval
and doubts spring up between us. To navigate opinions, convictions, and
decisions, we need to learn to look for the light—not our own ideas of black
and white and gray.
Instead, we will “walk as children
of light.” (Ephesians 5:8b)
We were never meant to live in a world
of only three colors anyway.
