I stood at the stove cooking bacon when a familiar rattle interrupted my thoughts. I had thrown my coverlet in the washer just a few minutes prior to firing up the stove, and the sound alerted me to something I knew to be a real possibility when washing the over-sized blanket.

 

The screen on the washer said uL, unbalanced load. This, as you probably know, means that the washer cannot proceed as intended because the bulk and weight of the contents rest on one side of the machine. For optimal functioning, the load must be evenly distributed. I lifted the lid to find the coverlet wadded (as suspected) in a ball on one side of the machine. My hands went in for the rescue, and the washer resumed the spin cycle when the load weight was evenly distributed.

 

The washer was made to carry a balanced load. This thought lingered in my mind as I closed the lid and walked back to the stove. Without hesitation these words escaped my mouth, “So were we. So am I.” We function best when our lives are balanced; when we learn to say yes and no, when we give and receive, when we sit still and move, when we feed and fill up.

 

Like the unbalanced load, a minor adjustment puts our lives back in balance. The washing machine only registers unbalanced when the spin cycle begins. Isn’t that also true in our lives? When the pressure mounts and the crisis sends us spinning, we are most likely to detect the imbalance.

 

Luke 10:38 gives an account of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha has opened her home to host Jesus {no big deal}, and she is preparing frantically for the honored guest. In the narrative, Mary sat listening to Jesus, while Martha “was distracted by all the preparations” {spin cycle}.

 

When considering the balance of our lives, what can we learn from this passage? I think we see that both are necessary and balance bridges the gap. It was good and right for Mary to sit, listen, and learn at the feet of Jesus. It was also good and right for Martha to prepare food for her guests. Do you see the balance?

 

If a metronome is used by musicians to keep a steady tempo, what can we use to keep a steady balance in our lives? We need a life metronome.

 

Mary and Martha went running to their teacher, Jesus, to try to sort out the imbalance. I had to physically get involved to put my washer load back in balance. So then, it would seem that people and relationships are a key piece of keeping our lives in balance. People whom we trust become the mouthpiece of wisdom and discernment, and are able to whisper truth into seasons where we are spinning and unbalanced.

 

Jesus was Mary and Martha’s teacher and source of truth. We must go to Jesus as our teacher and source of truth, too. We have access to the whole council of God in Bible. The precepts we read are ever applicable today and serve to keep the scales of our lives from tipping in one direction.

 

We must also keep our eyes open as we journey through life. I knew, as I loaded the washer this morning, that it would likely result in an unbalanced load. I was prepared to do the work necessary, should that happen. It’s true for us, as well. If we are discerning potential trouble as we say yes to something, we have to be equally prepared to make a shift if that discernment proves to be true.

 

Be cautious as you load things on your plate today. Too much on one side will send the whole plate tipping over and spilling all over the ground.

 

A washer cannot function properly with an unbalanced load.

 

Neither can we.

 

 

 

Sharing today at Our Words Collaborative