Middle Ground

Saturday’s rain reminded me how little the difference between too much and too little can be. It’s just a matter of inches; too little can mean a drought, too much can create a destructive flood. Somewhere in the middle, there is a balance between the two.

Goldilocks searched for the comfortable middle ground where everything is just right. There even has to be middle ground between work and play. All work and no play made Jack terribly dull and no fun to be around.

When I first started my business I was Jack; I worked four, sometimes five nights a week (in addition to the full five days) and all day Saturday. Then one night when I came home and kissed my sleeping children I realized they were growing up and I was missing out. I began to limit my evening appointments and closed the office at noon on Saturday. From then on I concentrated on finding the balance between work and everything else (home life, church, friends, reading and leisure time).

Now I have a grandson to find time for. Again, balance is called for – I don’t want to smother him, but I want to be part of his life. At his age, about four months (or seventeen weeks for those of you who like that kind of talk), our time together is spent trying to make him smile and listening to his happy sounds. When the sounds become unhappy I give him to someone else – his mother, his father, his grandmother, even his uncle.

Soon Micah will begin to crawl, and I will crawl around after him. When he begins to stand I will stand next to him, when he walks I will walk beside him and hold his hand.

We will sit, and I will read to him, or I will make-up stories and cast him as the main character. Other times we may lay on the floor and wrestle and laugh. I just want to be there, so similar to Archimedes just tell me where I need to stand to make a difference.

Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) one of the old great mathematicians said “Give me where to stand and I will move the world,” he said this in reference to the use of a lever.  He theorized and proved that with the right amount of leverage and a properly placed fulcrum it was possible to move almost any object. Webster’s defines a fulcrum as “the support on which a lever turns in rotating a body.” To be effective there has to be proper balance over the fulcrum; too much on either side and it won’t work.

A teeter-totter comes to mind when I think of the lever and fulcrum working together. I can see Micah and I spending time at parks and playgrounds, maybe even one with a teeter-totter. If I can find (or build) one I will give him Micah rides on it by simply pushing down on the other end (provided that somebody holds him so he doesn’t fall off).  I will be able to do this until he gets too heavy. 

But right now I will find the extra hours in my week to spend time with him while he grows and gets bigger. I just have to find the right balance, because whether it’s a few pounds, a few hours or a just a few inches, balance is found in the middle- it just takes a few to make a difference.