Have you ever seen Dervish whirl? Take a look at this brief video from Cairo and see for yourself. Believe it or not, the man in the middle spun on stage for almost thirty minutes. People became dizzy just watching him!

The dervishes actually come from the mystical Sufi mystical sect of Islam. When they whirl, they re-enact a turning towards the truth, during which the follower symbolically grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the "Perfect".

The dervish also provides a wonderful metaphor for balance. We all feel that sometimes we are spinning out of control. Yet the Dervish somehow maintains calm at the center, balanced. He does this by concentrating inwardly, on his own core, rather than the crazy world around him.

At the same time, the spinning itself provides a pathway to God. In this sense, we need to realize that spinning is part of life. We cannot stop the spinning. To stop spinning would be to stop life. And it is through life that we learn to embrace God.

The next time you feel like life is spinning out of control, picture the whirling Dervish. Spinning is the way the Dervish arrives at the "Perfect." And, by remaining calm at the center, he is able to let the perfect into his heart, mind and soul - without getting dizzy!

Imagine Moses. He has freed his people from slavery only to wander 40 years in the desert. He has quelled his disgruntled followers with manna from heaven and brought order from chaos with the Ten Commandments. But he dies before he can lead his people down from Mt. Nebo into the promised land. In the end, did he feel like a failure?

It's important to note that the ascent of Mt. Nebo is very gradual. We drove from Amman south to Mt. Nebo on a very gradual slope that seemed almost flat. As we travelled, it almost seemed like we weren't making much headway. It was only when we reached the monument to Moses at the top of Mt. Nebo and looked over the edge, did we realize how far we had come.

Granted, it helps that we were looking down at the Dead Sea, which is below sea level and one of the lowest places on earth. Nevertheless, the trip and the view at the end reminded me of our own journey through life.

As we travel through life, we forget to notice how far we have come, or how high we've climbed. We place almost impossible goals before ourselves without realizing how much we have already achieved. And this warped definition of our own journey, and how we measure our progress, can throw us out of balance. It can lead to feelings of failure.

So try a quick exercise. On a piece of paper, write two goals for the week. Write two more for the month. And write two more for the year. Make the goals realistic, achievable and NOT NEGATIVE, like losing weight, but something POSITIVE, like eating healthy or doing something nice for a friend. Put your goals in a safe place and review them at each designated time. Then, in all likelihood, give yourself a pat on the back. You've come farther than you thought you could.

In the story in the Bible, we hear how Moses was allowed to look into the Promised Land, but was not allowed to enter. My only hope is that, before Moses died, he was able to take a look back as well - and see just how far he had come.

We are happy to share another fantastic video in the Freedom from Fear series. These are a series of sermons by Rene Schlaepfer, who is the pastor of a large community church in Santa Cruz, CA called Twin Lakes Church. In our first edition, we shared a funny and wise video that begins with a Blair Witch Project insert. In this video, we share Escaping the Trap of Fear

Here, we gain a clearer understanding of the many ways that fear can throw us off balance, including ways that will be completely surprising to many people. Since fear can have such an enormous impact on our sense of life balance, we hope that you will visit this link and enjoy this powerful message.

According to the Old Testament, God allowed Moses to climb Mt. Nebo to see the promised land after wandering for forty years in the dessert. However, before Moses could realize the final objective of decades of work, he died. I always thought this was profoundly unfair.

Fortunately, while working in Jordan recently, I was able to see for myself. I traveled with several colleagues to see the beautiful view from Mt. Nebo. One can only imagine the simultaneous pride and disappointment Moses must have felt - to have led his people so far, but to have been unable to share in their great glory. Which leads to Lesson #1.

1. We do not always realize our own dreams. Yet we can focus on realizing our journey.

I would bet that if Moses had to choose between realizing his journey or his dream - between leading his people to freedom or entering the promised land - he would choose the journey every time.

The next lesson will be offered up in a blog next week. Hint: it's about getting to the mountain.

Fear can throw us completely off balance. In times of trouble, such as the global economic crisis, fear of the future can send us into depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior. We are pleased to share a series of outstanding videos on how we can use our faith to face and ultimately overcome our fears.

Free From Fear - Deep Faith for Dark Valleys

This video opens with a hilarious clip that mimics the Blair Witch Project. The following discussion, however, is truly profound. This link will take you to a discussion page on the video. We will share other videos in the future on how to use faith to balance our fears.

When I worked in India for a year, our office manager suggested we have an office puja. The program that I managed was going through a difficult time and our local staff believed that a puja, or prayer and blessing, for the office would help. I was skeptical, but wanted to be supportive. So a few days later, I found myself sitting on the floor with a Hindu priest and our entire office staff.

The priest conducted an elaborate ceremony around a small pot with burning incense. He added bits of fruit, yogurt and other items around a small pot of burning incense.  Ocassionally, we were invited to add fruits and to recite calls for health and success as the priest chanted a lengthy prayer.

I don't know whether the ceremony made a difference, though our program did improve through the rest of the year. But I was struck by the great power of integrating prayer with work.

In India, religion seems to permeate every aspect of life. So it is not surprising to see faith in the office. During times of stress, I would see staff invoke their faith to remain calm, to ask for divine intervention, or to seek solace. In all cases, faith brought spiritual balance to an intense work environment.

Just as important, we had fun!  The prayer service created a sense of community that we desperately needed at the time.  We joined together in faith and forged a common bond that helped us through tough times.  And that common bond dramatically improved office morale and productivity.  We were no longer working just for ourselves, but for something higher.

Sometimes I think every office could use a puja.  Admittedly, that prospect is not likely in the U.S.  But we can incorporate prayer into our work life.  As one example, a friend started praying at work and now steps outside for a few minutes each day with colleagues to pray for guidance and wisdom.  This prayer has helped forge closer relationships with friends at work and with God - and, in these stressful economic times, we could all use more of both.

This weekend, I addressed a group of parents at St. Augustine's parish in Oakland on the topic of family & life balance. The parents meet each week to share thoughts about raising children, balancing all that life has thrown their way, and finding ways to engage youth in exploring, understanding (and sticking with) their faith. The group raised many interesting issues such as: what rules to set with the family to ensure that youngsters and young adults actively participate in faith? When to enforce activities (such as church every Sunday) with youth? what to do if one of the parents is involved in their faith but the other is not? When to stop being pushy about faith and allow our youngsters to grow on their own and on their own volition? We all talked about our own faith formation as children and young adults and what turning points we found in our own lives.

How do our children find their own faith and ways to tackle life balance? There is no "one size fits all" answer to questions like this, but it reminded me of the "juggling act" of being a parent. Several have said that faith is "caught", not "taught". I personally believe it's a bit of both. Some parents do seem to lead by example - both good and bad examples. The Dad who doesn't go with the family to church because he values football or basketball games sets an example as much as the mother who teaches her how to pray before each meal. By modeling parents beliefs and behaviors, children may learn something about "religion" (good or bad), and sometimes even may learn about something bigger than themselves. At the same time, there likely comes an "inflection" point in each child's life where they reach their own decision about faith. Sometimes this is brought about by an event (death of someone close, for example) that challenges the individual's mortality or belief in a higher being. Sometimes it's by watching trusted friends who may gravitate toward or away from God. Even the presence of spirituality (for example simple prayers by parents during the day) or absence of it (no one ever discusses god or spirituality) will impact the child.

What, then, might be some ways to engage young ones in the development of faith? How do we get them to think about life balance at an early age. Five ideas come to mind from my experience: activities, socializing, media, family rituals and giving back/charity.

Youth groups, which are found in many churches and temples in the US are one great way for kids to engage with one another and perhaps find God in the process (or at least a reminder of God). Often there is a social element to this - for example, in the Bay area a church called Crosswinds (Dublin, CA), is well known for its summer "houseboat" trips that hundreds of youths participate in - and many a child has returned from these "social" events a changed being. Depending upon the child, music or artistic ministry can be a great way to engage youth with their spirituality.

With youth today, media has an influence - Internet sites, books, magazines and movies. Encouraging a youngster to talk about a movie (example Fireproof ,out this past summer) that has a life message, or talk about a book they've read (Stephen Covey's son has a series of books out on life priorities and balance, for example, that are popular with youngsters). Sometimes my children will (out of the blue?) ask me my thoughts on God, religion and faith. These are "moments of truth" for me. Am I prepared with a helpful answer. Do I use that moment to share or teach?

Many families have regular rituals - such as daily meals together prefaced with a prayer (in our family, each child takes turns leading the prayer and we rotate each time together), or prayer/song before bedtime, or weekly family visits with to church. At the Catholic Community of Pleasanton, several families took the lead in creating an entire ministry in which groups of 4-6 families meet on a regular basis at homes to enjoy each others' company, share Bible readings, undertake community projects together. This is cross family and inter-generational faith formation -- very powerful.

Teaching by example, with giving or charity is also a great reminder to children of where priorities lie. In my family, each daughter has had a chance to visit an impoverished country in which http://www.opportunity.org is making a local impact. When we do this in the context of generosity and faith, the children internalize it. Other families I know regularly take their children on mini-missions (building homes in Mexico, feeding the poor at soup kitchens, sharing blankets with the homeless).

Sure, kids may "wander" away from their faith as they grow older - but many eventually find their way back if they have been given a strong foundation. It is often not apparent to parents during "teen" years that anything they've attempted to set as grounding has been internalized...but speak to many parents once their children reach adulthood and you soon realize what a big impact we can have on our children...even when it appears we are not getting through.

We'd love to hear your thoughts and stories on this as well....