Senses

I had no idea that it was as bad as it was, if I would not have run into a mutual friends a day or so later.  Helene had been diagnosed, I guess from layman terms, with a separated retina. She was experiencing feathered black lines running through her sight on Thursday night, and they worsened and became more intense on Friday morning. Hours later, that same morning, after doctor evaluation, she was in surgery.  But the greatest hit was that she was forced to be on her back, eyes closed til the following Friday, with very little movement. 

Now just think about that a minute. It is one thing to be confined to bed, but quite another with eyes closed and sight encamped. I closed my eyes for a while just considering the position that she was faced with; if someone talked, you could not look at them, no reading, no "watching" television, etc.  She said at first it did make her crazy, really crazy but they were able to call for medication that would ease the anxiety, friends brought her books on tape, and though her husband Jerry was doing a great job as a nurse, the reinforcement of her daughter and the sounds of her new grand baby were a great comfort.

We do take our senses for granted.  The ability to hear, see, taste, touch and smell.  And when one sense is out of balance, then it seems like the other senses gain sort of momentum to compensate. I didn't ask her about this, but I bet she would agree at least in some capacity. As an example, I have heard it said that when sight is impaired then the senses of hearing or smelling become more sensitive, etc.  I cannot speak from experience, but it make "sense"!   

I think this must be the way our spiritual senses work as well.  When we are off balanced in our spirit, then either our mind tries to compensate through actions of our own doing, or we become sluggish and unmotivated as we wait for God to take over.  I was looking for a definition that would help me better to describe a spiritual balance and ran across the following words written by Patrick and Chrity at Wordpress titled "Spiritual Imbalance" which best describes the very thoughts that are in my mind:

          "Spiritual balance is not worldly balance.  In this world, we think of balance as a measure of equality.  We view our lives as an enormous scale that needs to be balanced in order not to cause the scales to rise or fall past that state of equality.  We put too much on the work side, and our family time goes down.  We spend more than we make, we find ourselves in financial bondage.  Sounds so easy but in this world it’s a difficult task, and we often fail.  The closer we become to reaching a state of equality in our time, our work and our finances, the better.
           But for us to reach the spiritual balance that God desires for us, we have to do the opposite of what we have been programmed to do.  Want to be happier…then you have to love more, give more.  Want to receive more…then you have to give more.  Want to grow spiritually…then you have to pray more, read His Word more and seek Him more.  Want to take control of your life…then you have to give Him complete control.  Want more blessings, more money…then you have to be a blessing to others and you have to share more of your money with others.     
          Simply, if I, or we, want to be in spiritual balance so that we can be used more effectively for God, and can be a warrior for God, then we have to seek Him more, pray more, read His Word more and minister to a lost and dying world more.  God wants more of us.  He wants all that we can humanly give him.  We have to tip the scales so far in God’s direction that we can’t help but to be out-of-balance in a worldy sense but absolutely in balance with God. When we find that we are exhausted from seeking Him, praying, reading His Word and reaching a lost world, because we have given all we have to Him, then we will find a place of balance where our spirits can be contented, filled with joy, full of love and at peaceful rest."         

And there you have it. If we want to be spiritually balanced we have to tilt our scales way over to God's side, relinquishing the need to preserve our own agenda.  For when we allow the grip of the sense of me to be loosened,  then we activate the sense of God to take over the reigns thus putting our life on a solid road towards peace, endurance, and contentment. 

Proverbs 16:11 Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making.

Balance in the eyes of the world is all about equality, balance in the spiritual world is all about God.

Dear Lord, Help me to tilt my scales to where they are balanced on your will.  Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation God has allowed you to be in...for his light will shine through!