Over the past few days, I’ve been taking some time to reflect on our world and something that has been coming to me more and more, and I’m often amazed by how everything we need to know is in front of us and behind us. In fact, it is all around us. The thing that has been in my mind of late has been the idea of balance, and I notice in my reflection that everything in this world, in nature, is in balance. One thing seeks to withstand the other. There are all these opposites. These things hold each other accountable, as we often see in the wild.
When we look in the savanna and see the animals of the Savannah, there are always just enough predators to keep the prey within a specific boundary, and there are just enough prey to satisfy the predators. Balance doesn’t mean equal size, like 50/50, for example, because it would not be a balance if you had as many lions roaming as you had antelope. The lions would likely die out because they would run out of prey. Still, there are just the right amount of lions to match the available food if we look at the forest. We look at the trees in the forest; each tree, each plant, finds its own path, finds its own place in the canopy, and if one tree falls, there is, for a moment, a reshuffling, a repositioning, until there is a new balance in the forest.
When we look at our bodies, one of the things that we fail to realize at times is that our bodies are in balance. And whenever we find ourselves ill, it is because something is not in balance. Something is out of whack; something is producing more than it should or less than it should be. Something has caused a disturbance in the balance, and the message of illness is sent to us. And that message is to tell us there’s something that is out of balance, and therefore, you need to act quickly. But oftentimes, we ignore that. We ignore that and don’t pay attention because we’re not that keen on paying attention. And so those things go out of balance, and then they go further out of balance, and they cause other things to go out of balance. And then we are in crisis, and we, at times, have to pay the costs, the significant costs of that crisis when, if we had paid attention to the early signs that things were not in balance, we might just have been able to cut off that particular issue that was developing. This should remind us of the importance of being proactive and recognizing early signs of imbalance, empowering us to take control of our lives and maintain balance.
The Night gives way to the day, the seasons give way to each other, and they’re just enough for what’s needed. The Earth stays just in the right position in relation to the sun. If it came any closer, it would burn up. If it goes any further away, it will be lost completely, so it just stays right in that particular position that allows it to remain in that tension with the sun. 
When we look at our world, sometimes we become overwhelmed by all the evil or the violence that is in our mess, and we lament, and we point fingers, and we criticize, and we complain, but hardly ever do we ever stop and give some thought to where is the opposing force? Where is that force that keeps evil and violence in check? Where is it?

It is in goodness. It is in the gift of love. It is in kindness and gentleness. But if we in our world have forgotten how to demonstrate these things beyond our immediate connections, then, oh, they’re in the world where there is evil and violence; it continues to grow and expand even within ourselves. If we do not maintain that balance of goodness, we may become weary of demonstrating kindness or generosity. We may see that we have been tricked once or twice, or we have been put in a position where our trust has been broken, and with that attitude, we’ve decided that we’re done.
We’re done trusting, we’re done being kind, we’re done showing any gentle response. But what we don’t realize is that our refusal to offer kindness means that evil and, violence and abuse can continue to develop and expand out of proportion.
We are in a world of balance, and while we may not see immediately what our gift of generosity or compassion is, in relation to the broader picture, we also realize that we are In a significantly connected world. Everything is connected. We’re even told that flapping a butterfly wing on one side of the world impacts climate conditions on another part of the world to indicate how Connected we are. So, as we spend these moments together, my thought for us all is to look at ourselves and ask to what degree we manifest God’s goodness despite what may be in front of us. Jesus tells us that if one sins against us, we have only one task: to forgive, offer the opposing force, and offer the balance.
Jesus says, in another place, when he speaks of those who will be welcome in the kingdom, he says because I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was sick and in prison, and you visited me. I was hungry. You fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. And they said, When was this? And he said that just doing it to somebody, whether you thought they deserved it or not, is enough. It says it’s not so much about our reward. It is more about the fact that persons are presented to us with various circumstances and conditions, not so that we can do something nice and get to heaven, but so that we can do that which God intends for us to do because God has placed us in that spot at that moment for that purpose, that we can be as God is in that moment for that person to bring about the balance and assist in the work of balance.

The ones in need are playing their role, and we, too, must offer what is missing to hold this world in balance, where Isaiah provides the image of a day when the lion lays down with a lamb. It’s an image of things being in balance, with no need for hurt or destruction on that holy mountain, but everything is in the space that needs to be offering just enough of a resistance that is opposite, please. We need people in our world who have been called to respond to violence and evil, not fighting violence but offering kindness, compassion, and mercy to keep our world in balance