Every Husband A Hero - Part 2

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas is truly one of the best fiction books I have ever read. It was given to me by my sister Teri some years ago when I was getting ready to get the long flight home from one of our cross country escapades. Well, in the middle of my conversations with God about my life - in particular my relationships and more specifically my relationship with my husband - I found this book in one of my file cabinets during a long over due clean out. Immediately, I knew what I was looking for from the text. It reads as follows:

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. These balls are called work, family, health, friends and integrity. And you're keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls - family, health, friends, integrity - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And, once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

My five balls are named faith, family, friends, health and busyness. Faith is my personal relationship with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ and comes before everything else in my life. Family begins with my husband, then my kids, then everyone else the Lord has blessed my inner circle of life with. Friends are the people I know and associate with, but don't have a meaningful relationship. Health is my own and the three men in my home. Busyness is EVERYTHING ELSE!

The bulk of my busyness comes through my kids - School, Homework, School Projects, School Fundraisers, Book Club, Bike Club, Accelerated Reader, this field trip, that whatever else, TaeKwon Do, Football Practice, Football Games. When I was working, that list was compounded with everything that having a job meant. And, whenever anybody would call or e-mail and say Karen could you? I never had the heart to tell them no, so I piled something else on the top of my "I HAVE" to do this list. What I realized, when my work season ended, was that in all of my "involvement", I was not spending any quality time with my children, and my husband nearly had to wear a name tag just for my benefit. He had turned into that guy that I bumped into when I went to bed at night. (Thank God I learned how to catch at an early age, because I was dropping balls like it was cool!) The other thing I learned was that if I couldn't do something, somebody else would - or it would still be there when I could get to it.

In our Tuesday morning conversation at the Cafe, Lisa and I were talking about our husbands, and how thankful we are to God that we have them. Understanding they are just as imperfect as we are, but fully recognizing that without them, we would not have the freedoms we have to get together on Tuesday mornings to enjoy our time in the Lord together - or pretty much anything else for that matter.

Understand, I could make it through this life without my husband - I just don't want to, and, in that, the time I spend with him doing what he wants to do has become more important to my life than doing the things I want. I have not perfected this, and don't know if I ever will; because, I keep finding myself getting in the way. It's an ongoing, growing process that requires much grace and pruning. I don't always like it, and I don't always yield; but, I am completely aware of the significance and importance of my efforts ..... BECAUSE ..... the humbleness of my previous statement comes in the full knowledge that my husband could also live out his life WITHOUT ME!!!!

Because of the things God has shown me, the ball of busyness gets launched high into the sky, because it will bounce where it bounces; but, it will bounce back. The balls of health and friends get thrown some where not as high, but the balls of faith and family barely leave my hands. For damaging one of those ..... well ..... I don't even know how to finish the thought.

They barely leave my hands.

Living,
Learning,
Loving
and
Laughing,

Kalena Juggling