It seems that life is a constant balancing act. Sometimes we have to lead, sometimes we have to follow. We must at times take authority, while at other times we must defer that authority. My wife and I raised 6 children: five boys, 1 girl. There was nothing we could do to get one of my boys to do our bidding. No screaming, shouting, cajoling or bribing worked. We had another boy though that would start crying if we slightly raised our voices. It was a constant balancing act. We had to ‘zig-zag’ our pedagogic style and make sure we didn’t ‘zig’ when we should ‘zag’, and not ‘zag’ when we should ‘zig.’ The same applies to money. There is a time when in order to economize we must save money, but at other times economizing comes by spending money such as repairing a needed part of the home or car. As they say, “A stitch in time saves nine!”. A great king once summed it all up with, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Ecc 3:1-8) A sixties’ band beautifully put this to music: https://youtu.be/W4ga_M5Zdn4 Another dichotomy of life is: “Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!”
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