Balancing Act

There are days when I feel on task, ahead of schedule, organized, and on top of the world. Don't you just love those days?

You know the ones I'm talking about:

~ Your day starts off with the perfect cup of coffee, a sunny sky and an empty dishwasher.
~ You fit into your skinny pair of jeans
~ Your home is so clean and tidy that the only task left to do is re-fluff the pillows.
~ Your bills, receipts, coupons and random paperwork are all filed in their proper containers.
~ You prepare a lovely three course meal that is happily received by even the most picky of eaters.
~ You look back at the end of the day and realize that you accomplished everything listed in your cute day planner and still had time to match 89 pairs of socks.

Most days, I feel petty good about my time management, productivity and quality of hours spent. And then there are the days that knock the wind out of me...

~ I'm up earlier than usual, but somehow I'm late to everything.
~ I've laid everything out the night before, but today eveything I touch mysteriousely disappears just when I need it.
~ The laundry pile threatens to swallow me whole, even after multiple loads.
~ Time runs out, and I resort to ordering take out - 10 minutes before dinner time.
~ All available counter space and every free seat in the house is piled so high with random things that if I sneeze it may avalanche on me.
~ At the end of the day, I am so overwhelmed that everything is bigger than it seems.

yep... we all have those days now and then.

And that's exactly why I started this journey here at "too Blessed to Stress."

You see, "too Blessed to Stress" does not mean that stress will never come. Far from it! Change, challanges and frustrating moments lurk around every corner and it's effect on us as women, wives, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, business women and homemakers can be devasting.

Devastating - but only when we allow it.

"too Blessed to Stress" means that in midst of the chaos, trials, sadness, piles, dirt and grime we chose to focus on the blessings of the moment. Finding the proverbial "silver lining on a cloud" so to speak - instead of finding a cloud for every silver lining!

And it is times like these that I know I need balance. To know that it's OK to take risks and to fail now and then. That it's ok to cry for a moment, because joy comes in the morning! That frunstration is a valid feeling, but I must not act adversely upon it. That I have been given grace, and in turn I must shower it upon others. That family must come before "the other things" that have been temporarily deemed more important.

For several years, I have had this quote on my entryway wall. A fantastic reminder that in all things, balance is needed:

"We need a balance between work and play, between kindness and firmness, between waiting and praying, between saving and spending, between wanting too much and expecting too little, between warm acceptance and keen discernment, between grace and truth. The longer I live, the more I must fight the tendency to go to the extremes... and the more I value balance."  ~C.S.

Are you playing a balancing act today? What do you do/use to keep yourself grounded?

All photos taken by yours truly. Cherry Trees near our home, Laundry room chaos (GRAND REVEAL COMING SOON, boxes for Goodwill items, and our pup enjoying the footstool I remade in THIS POST.

This post is being unwrapped over at Chatting at the Sky. Head on over and share your gift for today.