Fresh

The day started around 4:00 a.m. as is typical for most Sundays. I reviewed my sermon notes and the media.

I went running from about 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Even though the weather was cold (about 10 degrees), it was one of my best runs of the year. I was the first person on the trail after about an inch of fresh, powdery snow which provided the perfect blend of cushion and traction.

Worship went well. Despite the bad weather, we had more kids than we have ever had on a Sunday before. Our worship area was full too. After Wednesday, people were looking for a word from God. Hopefully that is what they got. Here are my notes. They probably won't make much sense without listening, but you may find something useful. You can listen as well. I remember saying something at the end like: "Sometimes we see life most clearly through tears. We honor the dead by living. Today is a fresh start. I pray for us lives of focus where we give our best time and energy to the things that are most important and most important to God." Anyway, here are the notes:

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” -Thomas Merton

How do we achieve balance in life?

1. Don’t Fill a Teacup with a Firehose (Emotional Balance)

James 4:14

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Proverbs 25:27

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls.

Outside noisy. Inside empty. -Chinese Proverb

Maintaining a complicated life is a great way to avoid changing it.

Yesterday is a cancelled check
Tomorrow is a promissory note
Today is the only cash you have
Spend it wisely

Do you love life? Then do not squander time. For that’s the stuff life is made of. –Benjamin Franklin

2. Lord, Teach Us to Play (Physical Balance)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

2 Samuel 6:21 (KJV)

I will play before the Lord.

Zechariah 8:5

The streets of the city
Shall be full of boys and girls
Playing in its streets.

Matthew 18:3
Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Romans 12:1

I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

3. I Just Wanted to Be Sure of You (Relational Balance)

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered. Pooh replied, “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

Romans 12:18

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

It is better to have loved and lost that to have never loved at all.

4. United or Untied? (Spiritual Balance)

Psalm 86:11 (Note change in wording)

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Unite my heart, so that I may honor you.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.
–C.S. Lewis

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.