The principle of balance stems from in the beginning when the earth was formed, with the earth tilted at  a certain angle and when God rested on the seventh day.  The justice system, the quality of being fair and reasonable. Simply put, the law requires balance for things to be fair and where there is justice there is order and peace. The adolescent stage, from a teen girl to a woman, with the aim of maintaining balanced hormones. Balance.

With regard to being imbalanced, you can be in a number of ways, in the way you use your time, financially, physically, mentally, socially and spiritually but are you personally aware of the need for balance between work and rest? Personally speaking, I struggled to keep up trying to juggle everything and at times found it hard to keep up with not only those around me but with myself too. Ecclesiastes 4:5-6 reads:

‘The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind’.

The folded hands represents a lazy person- ouch! The interpretation of the rest of verse 6 is that one open hand full of quietness and rest is preferable to two closed hands full of toil and vain effort.  Perhaps it is time for your balance check?, one which would last a lifetime and not just merely getting by on a daily basis, below  I have put together some helpful tips that will help keep you in check!:

Rest, Revitalise and Refresh (spiritual)

Have you ever gone passed the stage of tiredness? I have, but that in itself is not true rest. Hebrews 4:1 reads: ‘Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it’, God’s “rest” was not due to Him being tired but to His being completely finished with His creative work. In the book of Genesis it does not say God “needed” to rest on the seventh day; it simply says that He did rest.

Look after yourself (physical)

Now, I am not really a gym fanatic, never understood why my brother spent ages in the gym, but I realised  that regular and consistent exercise  is vital. Likewise, hormone restoration is vital for women. I came to the realisation that just as a car becomes unbalanced as a result of a punctured tyre, I needed to improve in my ways. When you are physically imbalanced, symptoms such as stress or even sleep deprivation arise and just like that your tyre  becomes worn out.

Don’t try to save the world- it has already been saved! (mental)

I marvelled on the whole Lara Croft trying to balance the world on  my  shoulders look and forgot that the world has already been saved. The Proverbs 31 woman most definitely was superwoman on another level, multitasking her marriage, children, business and purpose, but interestingly enough the bible states that she was ‘clothed with strength and dignity’, now I’m pretty sure that was the Lord’s strength she relied on! Sometimes we try and do things in our own strength and that’s when we see no results, sometimes your breakthrough comes right after rest.

Learning how to say NO (mental)

Some women thrive at trying to do it all because they flourish on a crammed calendar. The more they have to do, the better they like it. This was me. However, there will be a time where you may need to say no, after all,  some things are seasonal. On the other hand there are those that have been burnt out by people and activities, and now they say “No” to everything. They never join anything, or quit everything they used to do or withdraw by retreating into a world of fantasy. The solution to this is to learn how to discern what you can physically and realistically take on or manage.

Watering your grass (mental)

If you are like me and pour out a lot then it is just as important to allow others to pour into you. Or simply, you pouring into yourself. Your body is a temple after all-so  invest in it!

It’s only when you are in good physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual condition that you can be said to be balanced and healthy. However, “a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” The proverb tells us that all things are God’s and that He is and must always be the standard by which we measure everything. He and His character are  a true balance.

Words by Lara Jinadu

Lara is  the co-founder of Hubbee, a wedding specialist website, a lawyer and a minister at Word of Faith UK.