The Juggling Act

Ever feel like your life is a juggling act?...keeping fifteen different balls in the air at the same time...praying that none will fall to the ground?  This blog is all about hope, so there won't be any complaining from me, however, this place is also about being open and honest.  Perhaps you can see that my life is Holy Spirit driven...without Him, these balls I am juggling would have hit the ground a long time ago.

Last night I was up until just after midnight giving this blog a face lift.    As a rookie blogger, the first ten months have been filled with lots of wandering and learning on the job.  This blog and the book I am writing are two more balls that God added to my juggling act and I am starting to get the hang of it (remember...He does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called).  I first learned to juggle so that if I faced a rainy day with my tennis students, I had something to teach them.  The truth is that I can only handle three balls at once, however, I have about seven variations.  That's what happens when you see a lot of rainy days.

In my life, there are about fifteen balls up in the air, the top ten are quality time with my wife, parenting, building a business, exercising, blogging, writing a book, finances, chores, time with friends, and time with God.  There is one ball not mentioned in the top ten, however, I have been holding on to it very tightly to make sure it never falls.  This has made it more difficult to juggle all the other balls with just one hand.

Sometimes, you just need to realize when it is time to let go of a ball.  Our first pet, Lady, is an example of this.  When she began to suffer from old age, I held on too tightly to her.  I could see the pain in her face and tried to cover it up with pain medicine.  She got to the point where she could barely stand up.  She was afraid and knew it was her time.  I held on far too long for her own good.  When I finally made the decision to let go of her, she stopped shaking.  It was as if she knew that I was taking her to the vet to let her go.  She proudly walked onto the scale so the vet would know how much anesthesia to give her.  Then, she did it one more time to show off.  It was her last trick.  It was an incredible family moment, one that I will cherish forever.  A chapter in our lives was closed that day.  It was so hard to let go.

Now, it is time for me to let go of another ball that I have been grasping like the "Lady ball".  God cannot give me more to do unless I am willing to let go of certain things that are getting in the way of serving Him.  This experience is humbling but necessary.  It is like letting go of 8th grade so that you can enter high school.

As I look at the new count-down meter on this blog, I realize just how little time I have to get this first book published.  There will be more about my juggling act in the book and I will share just what those other balls are that I have been holding on to (read "Tip of the Iceberg" - April 16th for a little sneak peek at what the book is about).  The lesson I learned about juggling is that sometimes you just have to let some of the balls drop in order to give better attention to what is really important...serving God and taking care of the ones you love.