For some reason my mind has been mulling over the idea of balance. When I was working there was often talk somewhere about work/ personal balance. It usually drifted to the ho-hum saying of “you can have it all!” and really I struggled because I never felt balanced.

Recently I stumbled on a post indicating that the balance we strive to achieve in our lives isn’t really like a scale with equal weights and measures, it is more like walking a balance beam where we are constantly compensating by shifting and swaying parts of our bodies while moving our feet along the beam to get to the other side.

It struck a chord with me, changing my perspective of life balance. But it still didn’t seem to fit. I think I thought it didn’t fit because really, there is never going to be perfect balance in all areas of our lives. In reality, somethings are going to weigh heavier than others, depending on the season of your life.

Which is why I think life is more like cake.

In a simple white cake recipe there are seven ingredients. They are all mixed together in different ratios, put through the stress of a 350 degree oven, and the outcome is moist yumminess.

Sometimes, you might accidentally get distracted by something and add baking soda instead of baking powder, the cake won’t come out the same, but it is still cake-like. Or maybe you think the cake needs an extra scoop of flour. Sometimes we can rework the ingredients and come out with something completely different than our friend, but it is still cake.

Well, I suggest our lives are like cake. The different aspects of my life (housework, motherhood, marriage, personal, etc.) are mixed together in different ratios. At this point I’m definitely spending more time with the kids than my husband. Heck, sometimes I think I spend more time with the laundry than I do my husband (because there is a lot of laundry, not that there isn’t enough husband, LOL!). Just moving through my days (and nights when Tebow isn’t sleeping well) can be stress equal to that of a 350 degree oven. There are days when the outcome is yumminess and days when I know there is too much flour and probably not enough sugar.

I’m still perfecting my recipe for cake. What’s yours like these days?

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