Trust the Board

We’re just a few weeks into the new school year and my summer tan is already fading. I catch sight of my bare wrist in the shower and realize that the running watch tan lines are less dramatic, less pronounced. While there’s a certain sense of loss as the seasonal change happens, that shift also brings new rhythms, new perspectives, new tension.

As each season shifts, there’s a sense of letting go of what was before and embracing what’s to come. There’s a dance that happens here, a delicate balance of celebration and release.

A Balanced Perspective

Lately, as my own schedule and life rhythms have been changing to accommodate Autumn’s return, I’ve been thinking about that word balance. I don’t know about you, but I hear that word thrown around a lot these days. Work/life balance, balancing our stress load, and all of that. There’s an unwritten implication in a lot of what I see: that if you have balance, you won’t have tension. That finding balance is the key to a stress-free or tension-free life.

One of our favorite summer activities is hitting the local lakes and rivers on our stand-up paddle boards. It’s so relaxing, paddling on a hot summer day, enjoying the scenery and the water, all while getting a fairly decent core workout. It’s a great exercise in balance– literally. But I’ve noticed that when I’m on the board and I’m balanced, there’s still tension at work.

The tension of the board under my feet keeps me afloat. We fill our inflatable boards to around 10.5 psi. Any less than this, and the boards feel soft and floppy under our feet, more like a blow-up floatie than a firm paddleboard. Have you ever tried to stand on a floatie? I have, and I always end up in the water because the floatie doesn’t hold enough tension to keep us both afloat. My paddleboard, on the other hand, is under intense air pressure the entire time, but that is what lets it glide seamlessly atop the water. Without the tension and the pressure, the board would sink, and me along with it.

“Trust the board”

When we take first-time paddleboarders with us, I always remind them to “trust the board.” If I fall off my board, nine times out of ten it’s because I was the problem. (Insert “Anti-hero” here– It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.” -T. Swift) I stopped paying attention to my balance, I over-corrected, or I shifted too quickly. The board itself rarely flips– it’s me who made the mistake. The board will hold me up as long as I remember not to panic.

Keeping balance in life often feels like this: shift too much too quickly, stop paying attention, or over-correct and everything feels like it’s falling apart. Finding that sweet spot of a perfectly balanced life can feel impossible. But what if we took the time to build intentional tension into our lives that will hold us up when we fall or panic?

Healthy balance requires positive tension

Maintaining the systems of our lives: the life rhythms, routines, and rituals that keep us going on a daily basis, requires some tension. Work/life balance doesn’t just happen, it must be built, cultivated, and tended. It requires tension, sure, but this is a good tension. This is the tension of the system that keeps us afloat, a system that we can rely on when life throws us a bit out of balance.

As a believer in Jesus, He is my ultimate foundation, my rock, upon which all of my other life systems are built. But even the strength I find in Him must be cultivated through daily relationship. It’s not just on auto-pilot: walking and working out my faith daily requires both trust AND tension.

Does this mean that all life must be a constant struggle of tension, balance, and work? Of course not. Jesus himself often made time and space for rest. But if we build positive tension into our lives to hold us up, instead of imagining a utopian idea of what a balanced life really means, we can relax into that tension and trust it when the waves of life come at us. Build a solid board, and then, trust the board.

What systems or “boards” have you built into your life that you can depend on when life throws a rogue wave your direction? Leave a comment to join the conversation.

‘Til next time,

Becca