balcony time

I want to invite you to consider Balcony Time. I have stolen the phrase from a leadership book and am using it now to refer to my life with God. The basic concept is this: get off the stage of life and sit up in the balcony of the theatre with God in order to talk with Him about what is going on on the stage. Colossians 3:1 might be a theme verse: Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

For me I have to have a regular time set apart for this (usually Thursday morning). I also have to get away from the places I usually find myself, like home, work, church, places I usually run into people I know, etc. Getting out in nature or drinking a quiet cup of coffee helps.

The first few weeks I decided to be intentional about this I struggled with a busy mind, ringing phone, books that wanted to be read, music calling to me, etc. I found myself running from questions like, "Is my heart for God growing or shrinking?" Or, "What am I most/least grateful for?"

This last week seemed to be somewhat of a breakthrough. As I sat God brought a picture of twirling plates to my mind. Each plate was labelled with parts of my life, Family, Ministry, Friends, etc. Then in front of my on the table was a plate labelled Heart. There was a clear invitation to pick up my heart... but I would need to set down SOME plates.

Ministry was the first God brought to mind. I was overwhelmed with that idea but God said He would provide. I asked for a godly woman to help out in the high school ministry. He said send out an email. So I did. Within 8 hours I had two women interested. Some good consolation.

I share this because I know it is easy to become busy with so much of our lives (even while journaling or doing a daily devotion). Developing the rhythm of stepping out of our usual lives and fixing our eyes on Jesus pays off!

Get out for some Balcony Time soon!