Don’t be afraid of being out of balance at times. That is often where the magic happens.
I’ve since learned of a tradition in some cultures to
express just the opposite, that the future is behind you, for what is in front of you can be seen and what is behind you cannot be seen. When someone believes his past is what lies in front of him, it has a great deal to tell him. Looking back on 33 years of camp ministry, my past
is in front of me, and while I still have some years ahead, there is much that I’ve learned. I was 24 years old when I stepped into the role of camp director at Inspiration Point (Vining, Minnesota). Te energy and new ideas of youth carried me a long way, but there was a lot I didn’t know. Tese are some of the lessons I learned along the way. How I wish I had known these things when I was younger!
The Fallacy of Balance Much has been written in the past couple of decades about striving for balance in our lives. Aſter all, who needs it more than people who serve at our camps or conference centers, right? I get where the desire comes from. It goes something like this: camp people work crazy hours and put the ministry first too much, and we need to balance that out. There are a couple of problems with that goal,
however. First, you won’t find the principle in the Bible. We read about Sabbath in God’s Word but not balance. Second, achieving balance isn’t possible. Tink back to when you learned to ride a bicycle. Te idea was to be able to balance so that you didn’t tip over and crash. Remember the feeling you had when it finally “clicked”? What you had achieved in that instance, though, wasn’t balance. It was the skill of counterbalancing. Riding a bike is about making continuous adjustments as you ride.
May/June 2024
www.ccca.org 41 Life is like that. We are never in complete balance.
Spending eight hours or more a day at work? Tat is out of balance unless you’re spending eight hours a day at home resting. But what about our families or other relationships? Tey need to have equal time. Ten there’s sleep. How are we supposed to fit that in? Scripture tells us to be “as wise as serpents and as
innocent as doves.” Our job is to take inventory of what is needed when and then provide for that. Don’t be afraid of being out of balance at times. Tat is oſten where the magic happens. It’s in the imbalance that projects get completed
or the extended time in a conversation bears eternal fruit. Consider how the extra time spent with your child at home one morning offers some additional encouragement or how staying late to open an activity area for a guest group serves them well. Be aware that these times of “above and beyond” may need to be counterbalanced by times of rest, time with a spouse or time by yourself.
Photo courtesy of Camp Cedar Cliff
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