Trying to balance the joys and depressions of life not only limit my relationships but kill my imagination, spontanaity, and freedom. Managing my feelings by forcing the middle road steals the exilerating life-giving extremes. Romans 12:15 Fear of risk made me feel that I might have to live where life allows me to visit. Yet in my fear I found myself guilt-driven either coercively or manipulatively by others. Rather than looking for direction I began to direct or became out of control. I may feel extreme rage on the one hand or emotional deadness on the other, yet at the same time receive wise instruction upon which to act. Ecclesiastes 7:16-20
What is needed is not pejorative labeling but loving counsel. Proverbs 16:20