You Can't Have it All

*Best Friends*

In our Sunday paper inside the Business section there is a page of the Wall Street Journal and on this page there is a column written by Katherine Rosman who writes about pop culture and technology for the Wall Street Journal. She is married with two children and she and her family live outside New York City. Her column from this past Sunday is titled "Maybe You Can't Have Balance, After All." To read the full article, click HERE.

If you don't feel like reading the article, I'll give you the gist of it. The author goes away from her family for a week on a business trip, misses her kids and husband, but still wants to work. While on this trip she meets two women, one working mom, one not. The working mom says, "Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind." The mom who put her career on hold to raise her children said "I wish I had your career but I can't focus on two things at once the way I'd need to."

So what solution does Katherine Rosman come to? Let me quote the second to last paragraph in her article. She writes, "My mom once told me her greatest wish for me was to live a full life. To me, that means piling onto one plate love, fulfilling work, children, friends and yoga. There is no way to balance it all, and if I tried it would mean turning my back on things that round out my life and make me whole."

I have several qualms with this statement. Where do I even begin? Well, first of all, she doesn't mention her husband on her full plate, unless she is wrapping him up with #1 which is "love". Second, she puts fulfilling work above her children. Perhaps this was not intentional by the author, but can you see it? Even if she did not intend this list of things to be listed by priority, she is showing with her life actions what is most important to her. And clearly "fulfilling work" is higher on her list of priorities than her children. Here is the real kicker- it's all about ME. This is what I need to make me whole. Yes, I'm sure my kids would like to have me at home, but you know, then I'd really have to miss out on work, and I wouldn't have as much time for yoga, and you know, I would just rather not have balance if I can't have it ALL.

I don't want to be extremely negative here and bash this woman, because that is not what I am supposed to do as a follower of Christ. I just wanted to use that article to contrast the world's way of thinking with the example that God in Christ set for us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's."

YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN.

GLORIFY GOD -
IN YOUR BODY
IN YOUR SPIRIT
THEY ARE GOD'S.

I must die to myself. I was bought at a price. When I look back on my life, at the forgiveness and love I have experienced through Jesus' death on the cross, how can I do anything other than die to myself? It is something I need to remind myself of on a daily basis. My life is not my own. Right now, in this stage of life, after God and my husband, I have my children. They are full of joy, life and love, and at times exhausting, exasperating, and vexing. BUT, when I die to myself and put their needs above my own, I am drawing closer to my Lord and Savior.

Our American culture has learned to bleed a selfish blood. We have been taught that it is all about us, that we deserve the best of everything. Putting others above ourselves has become something foreign. I pray that the Christians in America will set such a good example of selflessness that others will ask them about it. I pray that I can set this example to my children, to my neighbors, and to others that I meet.

John 15:13 (King James Bible)
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Who would you lay down your life for?