Balance (by Diane Gallagher)

Guest blogger Wednesday :)

Balance  – “an even distribution of weight enabling something or someone to remain upright and steady.”  Upright and steady, huh?  Sometimes I feel hobbled over from the weight of the world and quite wobbly from the daily roller coaster ride I am on.  I love the idea of being emotionally upright and steady.  The trick is that in order for me to feel balanced, I need to live a balanced life:  in my eating, my prayer life, my physical activity, my labor, my recreation (with kids and spouse) and my rest.  Don’t get me wrong – there are times when the scale is tipped to one side because it has to be.  For example, when I began a much needed diet to shed 13 years of pregnancy weight, I took some more extreme measures.  Balance was not achieving the results I needed to stay motivated so I followed a strict eating regimen and counted daily points.  During Lent, the scales are often tipped spiritually as we spend more time in Church, in prayer and in fasting.  And that is a good thing.  Someone training for a marathon (not a realistic dream for me) has to tip the exercise scale while she trains and focuses on getting her body in shape.  For a season. 

To peacefully live through the daily grind with the plethora of demands placed on me, I realize that a steady and upright Diane is best achieved through balance.  See, if I remained obsessed with my diet, I pour too much of my time and energy into this one area of my life at the expense of the others.  Or if I become too focused on getting my work done around the house (it never is), then I do not take the time to relax with my husband or I sacrifice my sleep. Let me reiterate that it is absolutely necessary to tip the scales at times…like last week when we were preparing for my son’s 1^st Holy Communion.  I spent every spare moment getting ready and definitely sacrificed sleep and cooking healthy meals (we went for simple instead).  But on a regular basis, balance works best for me:  daily morning and night prayer, exercising on the elliptical 3 – 4 times a weeks, allowing myself some treats without gorging on the whole package of Oreos, creating a realistic meal plan each week keeping in mind cost, time of meal preparation and tastes of my family members.  I have even learned to do couponing in moderation.  It would be so easy to spend hours looking for coupons or going from store to store in search of savings.  It is tempting, but not for me.  I spend about an hour planning my list and gathering coupons… and then I go to one store.  I may not be getting the best deals every week, but I have to balance the savings with the gas money and time spent driving around that I could be used for other things that would ultimately bring more peace to my day. 

For me, as a Catholic Christian, I constantly have to turn to God to ask for His help in finding and maintaining this highly sought after balance … and to let me know when I need to go off balance for a season or rearrange my priorities that have gone askew.  Sometimes He lets me know this just by the anxiety that will well up inside when I am out of whack.  Other times, the nudge might come from without – my husband or sisters or friends.  Balance is not a reality I achieve once and then have it forever.  It is a daily process but a goal that my husband and I truly desire.  As with most things, we are not always successful in achieving our goal, and occasionally we need to hold the other upright when the weight becomes too heavy and we are leaning to one side.  It is all part of the daily effort toward balance. Ultimately I have found that a more balanced mama is a happier mama…and I think it is safe to say that my husband and children all appreciate thatJ

Live It:  Keep track of what you spend your time on for one week…. Then look it over and see where your scales are tipped right now and how you might need to readjust.  Might be interesting.

Just a quick side note: Quick story…I stopped in at Confession today having already written my blog. After I confessed my myriad of sins including impatience and temper, the priest encouraged me to find more time for recreation and relaxation “prudently incorporated into my day.”  He felt that because I was running from one thing to another all day and not having much down time, I was probably more on edge and quicker to respond impatiently.  I smiled.  As you can see, I need to read my blog againJ  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming… 

"Cleaning House" ... Literally and Spiritually (by Diane Gallagher)

It's Wednesday ... guest blogger day. :) Take it away Diane ...

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Ahhh … the sweet smell of newly budding grass and flowers, a different array of birds at our feeder, glorious sunlight hours stretching longer into the day..Spring is here!  The physical and spiritual worlds unite in a special way this time of the year.  The dead of winter makes way for the new life of spring just as the death to self that occurs during Lent creates room for the new life of Easter that buds in our souls.  This is a great time for some spring cleaning and what better way to start than with  de-cluttering ... our homes and our souls!  I know I always feel so much better after I have done a good purging in our house!  A couple times a year, I like to get rid of as much unnecessary "stuff" as I can ... clothes, DVDs, games, toys. 

We have all heard the rule of thumb that you should get rid of anything you have not used/opened/put on in a year. We might as well let someone else use it  ... " your trash might be someone else's treasure."  Take advantage of a neighborhood garage sale or even better ... donate the things to a charity that is hosting a garage sale. Our parish holds one every year, and we are happy to contribute annually as it is mutually beneficial! 

Last Fall, I even held a mini-garage sale at my home ... but it was free for friends and family.  I figured that people have been soooo generous to us through the years, that it only seemed right to share the bounty with others. Whatever works best for your style, spring is a great time to take advantage of the burst of sunshine and energy associated with the season while helping your family be freed from all the "stuff" that can bog them down.

 As Spring is just beginning, we are now about halfway through the Church season of Lent. This is a perfect time to conduct some spiritual de-cluttering as well.  Recommitting to our Lenten fasts might be a helpful step this week as your will power may start to wane. (It’s amazing how many feast days I can suddenly be compelled to celebrate as I look for excuses to break my fastsJ)  You might also want to ask yourself what is cluttering your spiritual life and thus preventing you from having room for God. Busy schedules, email, facebook, errands and housework are not bad things, but if we do not keep our priorities and choices under God's watchful guidance, they can "clutter" our days and prevent us from living each day as He would have us. I love the image of our souls being like a vase. God's grace is the water that fills it. He can only fill as much as we give Him. If we are jamming as many flowers in the vase as physically possible, there will be less room for the water. While the flowers in and of themselves may be beautiful, they lose their attractiveness if they are smashed between many others. 

This image begs two questions: How big of a vase do we give God?  A bud vase with room for just one flower and little water (grace) -OR- a large container that can hold a big, beautiful bouquet and requires lots of water?  Secondly, what are we filling it with? Carefully chosen flowers with room for movement or as many random flowers off the side of the road that we can stuff in? For the remainder of Lent, maybe we could try to fast from things that are cluttering our "vases" and be more selective in what we put in them so we have more room for the Creator and His Grace.

Happy Spring!