It was a Christmas morning unlike any greeting card – waiting in the parking lot, the summer heat beating down. Three kids in car seats whining with boredom. “Let’s put Daniel Tiger on until it’s time to go into the prison.” 

My husband and I have done prison ministry for the past twelve years…but never on Christmas, and certainly never with kids! I had been working in the mother-and-baby unit, a house on the grounds of a nearby prison with rooms for twelve women and the children born to them during incarceration. Our early-childhood development material gave them useful information and our Bible studies taught them about a God who offers forgiveness and restoration, but our best offering was our presence. Simply by showing up, we placed value on them as women, mothers, and sisters in Christ.  

The blurred lines of “work time” and “family time” can be one of the greatest challenges but also the greatest blessings of global work. That Christmas, our kids’ presence in the house was transformative. Our five-year-old carried a toddler around the room. Our three-year-old crashed into everyone’s legs with a plastic ride-on bike. Our one-year-old stole snacks off people’s plates with a charming smile. After months of trusting me with their children, I got to trust them with mine. 

There’s no “work-life balance” in any given moment. It’s something we can only achieve over time, allowing our various callings and commitments to take priority or take a backseat in turn. The correct balance changes with seasons of family life, and I need to seek God’s wisdom constantly to find it. That year, it meant leaving my baby with the nanny to spend time with these precious women and their babies. That Christmas, all of us got to be a blessing together. In the following months, I took time off from the program to deal with health issues and help my kids adjust to new schools.  

In each season, the balance looked different but the calling was the same – following Christ’s example of sacrificial love. We use wisdom to determine what season we’re in, knowing that we can honor him in “whatever we do, whether in word or in deed,” whether in work or family…or maybe even both.