The four quarters of work, rest, play and prayer. No day should go by without some element of each. Any day or stretch of days where we as adults concentrate on one or possibly two of these great aspects of a wholesome life will see us spiritually bereft, and possibly physically and nervously burned out.
How wise it is to live in sacred balance:
Knowing time and place and measure.
Wholeness and holiness consist in this:
Here, now, to find, to own that treasure.
How to respect work, rest, praise, and play?
Avoiding obsessiveness, even with the good;
Canny moderation in all things, even divine;
Doing only that now, which I know I should.
Balance: that true wisdom of all things living;
Nature’s feral state of glorious equilibrium,
Where all can find authentic place and grace,
Heaven upon earth, foretaste of the Kingdom.
Balance in daily doings, balance in our views,
With commonsense to govern every impulse.
No straight-jacketed regimen this, but rather,
Spirit freedom with Creator assured results.
The unbalanced day is simply sowing stress,
To reap in chronic woes and burgeoning ire,
Our relationships and health services strained,
Achievements tainted, to sabotage our desire.
Can we grasp the chance to discipline our love?
To see a better modus mid our manic mayhem?
To hold in dynamic embrace the four quarters:
Our honest toil with rest, play and prayer. Amen.