To View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5CuRs4o0UQU
SHOW NOTES
Imagine that your life is like a wheel with eight spokes. A wheel will keep moving if one of your spokes is broken, but if multiple spokes are not balanced, your wheel will collapse. In a balanced life, each spoke supports one another. They work together to create a balanced life. In this series, Tim and Kimberly are covering the eight categories they recommend balancing in our lives: our minds, our emotions, our spirits, our bodies, our social lives, our finances, our unique purposes, and our homes.
Welcome back to our series on living a balanced life. Last week, Tim and Kimberly shared the fourth area in our lives to find balance: our bodies. This week they are continuing the conversation by discussing how to find balance in our social lives.
We are called in scripture to connect with God and with others. Matthew 22:36-38 says, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are social beings. After God created Adam, Genesis 2:18 tells us, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.” We were created for connection. Proverbs 18:24 says, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ you have been called to unify with others. Ephesians 4:1-3 says, "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” To bear with one another means to put up with each other's idiosyncrasies.
Three Tips for Having a Balanced Social Life
Respect Social Rules - There are certain social rules we should follow when it comes to even our closest friendships. For instance, we should always respect personal privacy, boundaries, values, property and time.
Listen for cues - Learn what drives those with whom you are interacting. If you want to know someone well, you have to listen well. Ask engaging questions around the things they care about.
Lean into love - When someone is socially inappropriate with you, lean into love. When people fail you, lean into love. Lean into love for the sake of others. Allow those closest to you to be imperfect, and accept that you too are imperfect.
Join us next week as we continue the conversation on living a balanced life.
