Balance is universally desired. Consider people, nature, work environments, religions, relationships, or anything else. Creation favors equilibrium because that was God’s design from the very beginning. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The light and the darkness. Day and night. Land and water. Plants and animals. Male and female. Things that are not the same, but exist in a beautifully mysterious symbiosis.
This month, I’m reading Genesis in Italian with the fresh eyes of my English students. Reading the Bible in another language always reveals something new, but reading it in such a dynamic group reminds me of my most foundational beliefs and why I hold them. Looking at this season, I saw God’s blessing of balance on my life. As though I’ve received a sampling of this heavenly perfection while on earth.
How nice and easy that sounds. How angelic and worry-free. But I said balance, not ignorance, and this month has been tough. I’ve got no pretty way to say it. This month has been full of heavy themes, a hard look at forgiveness, difficult conversations, and all sorts of pain. Yet even in the depths of the darkest moments, the Light could not be extinguished. Peace claimed the territory. I praise the Lord for every single moment.
Reviewing this time, my first thought was tied to my friends. What joy we’ve found in friendship. This month particularly I have been aware of my friends and family in Christ who surround me. Thanks be to God that I’ve formed deep friendships here in Rome. Delighting in my beloved ones, I witnessed God zero the scales and relieve the heaviness of these weeks. From a mere hour captured from a busy schedule to full meals with a seemingly suspended hourglass, these moments are precious.
This month, life worked the way it should. I fell asleep tired and woke up replenished. I worked and socialized. I worshiped and received God’s blessings. I rushed and rested. Things got serious and things got silly. I laughed and I cried. I listened and shared. This month, God made me exceptionally aware of the beauty in balance, the comfort in constancy, and the mystery in the mundane. Praises be to Christ the King.