Balance

In his later years, my father had balance issues. He fell down quite a lot. It was a serious enough problem that he was sent to a balance clinic. He was doing well there until during his last session he felt down. I teased him about this a fair amount, suggesting, for example, that he should fasten a cushion over his rear end for safety when falling.

Merriment aside, it was a rather serious problem. Besides falling into the road while out walking, he would fall down in his flat from time to time, and when he couldn’t get up, the London rescue services would have to come to lift him up onto his feet. Eventually, as a result, he had to move to a nursing home.

It has now been quite a number of years since he passed into the spiritual world, where I doubt he still has balance issues. He has, however, passed them down to me. I had to have chemotherapy last year, and that most likely exacerbated the problem, but I choose to believe that the root of the issue is hereditary.

I have fallen over several times in the past year, getting bruised but fortunately not injured. One time, though, I could not get up, and my wife had to call the rescue squad. Rather embarrassing!

I now move rather more carefully than I did in my youth. I also look down more often, because there are things to trip on when you least expect them. And, importantly, I look around too, to make sure everything is looking level.

I never realized before how much vision can assist with balance. Before, I could walk in the dark and, if there were no obstacles, keep my balance. Now I need the lights on. Even though my balance is compromised (thanks Dad), sight can mostly restore it. Light brings balance.

There is a deeper lesson here. There are other types of imbalance—mental and even spiritual. We all know some people who seem to us to be unbalanced. Less obvious to us are areas where we ourselves lack balance. We may be completely unaware our judgment is off kilter until we crash in some fashion,

This is why we need light, light that can come from stepping back and thinking carefully about where we might be wrong. Then there is light resulting from a small amount of humility, and a prayer that He, the source of all Light, might shine upon us, show us the way, and give us balance.