Regaining Balance

It's a skill I guess, adjusting all along the way to the things that come...and I'm still trying to figure out how to do it.

I remember, a few years ago, when it became a part of my thinking: "Crises WILL come". At that point it was about crises with students in our program.  Before that, something big would happen--a dropping out, an huge illness, even death--and it would throw us off and we'd be scrambling. Then I realized, we needed to anticipate, that crises would come. Once it became part of the thinking, it was easier--easier to allow and plan for the time that things might take, people that might need to be available, etc. We also made a plan for a 24-hour phone that ONE PERSON would carry at a time, and we would not all have to feel like we were all on call 24/7.

Now I need that same thinking again, but in other ways. I need to learn how to do big-picture planning. For that, I need time and space, and listening to God. But then these "crises" come up in the process, and then throw me for a major loop. These ones are of a different nature--people I thought I could rely on to carry a certain load, suddenly back away, and the load, or the decisions that are needed, land back on me. Ugh! What am I supposed to do? Sometimes it happens through miscommunication. Sometimes it is through immaturity. Sometimes it is a result of sudden loads that land on them--family and personal issues--and they have to adjust. For some...there are some things that can be done to prevent, for others ... maybe it just needs to once again become part of my thinking.

Somehow I need to learn to anticipate this sort of thing as part of this life, this job. And to remember...all along my Father knows. He has not been taken by surprise. He knew this would be coming, and he will give all I need for this time.


I don't need to lose my balance, I don't need to overreact. There can be peace each day, no matter what is coming! I do need to learn to plan for a lighter load though, because, things will happen, the load will be heavier than I foresee now.