There Is A Time For Everything

I was talking with a bro recently. He was telling me that one should be balanced as with regarding the idealistic and the practical. That's fine.

But personally I disagree that one should always strive to have both idealism and practical thinking at all times. That isn't being balanced. Rather, I believe there are times that one should throw everything aside with reckless abandon... at the right time. And conversely, there are times when one should hold back everything and resist totally, no matter what you think or feel. It's a matter of the right times too.

So it's not only about being idealistic or realistic or even a mixture of both. It's also about the right times.

True balance isn't having everything in equal amounts. You try that for making a cake and see if anyone dares to eat your cake. It's about the right things in the right amounts... and at the right times. Like making fried pasta. You don't fry the pasta before you boil it, even if all the right ingredients are in the right amount.

I'll illustrate my thinking with this example.

When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, Peter called out to Jesus, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." Jesus said, "Come." And Peter walked on the water.

So Peter tested water first (literally). He double-checked to make sure that the guy on the water was Jesus. And then only when Jesus called him to come, then Peter dared to step out in trusting faith. That's sound faith, I think.

But would it have been a sound faith if Peter decided to put on a float before he stepped out onto the water? I reckon if one adopts the "balanced idea" of having both realism and idealism at the same time... then haha yes, put on a float before you step onto the water. But I don't think that would be trusting God too well then...

I guess there's a time for everything... and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

But there are no times for half-hearted measures. To put our hands to the plow and then look back make us unfit for the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is forcefully advancing...