by Andrea Trudden, Vice President of Communications and Marketing

Those who serve in pregnancy help rarely have quiet days. Phones ring. Clients arrive. Volunteers need direction. Donors need updates. Reports wait to be written. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, you are also a spouse, a parent, a friend, a church member, a ministry leader, and a person with a body and soul that require care. If you’re honest, you may even feel like you’re running a small logistics operation: family schedules, work deadlines, church commitments, kids’ activities, aging parents, community needs, and yes, self-care. It can feel like living in a constant juggling act.

There is a leadership metaphor that has endured for decades because it rings true. It’s often attributed to Brian Dyson, a former CEO of Coca-Cola, who is frequently credited with popularizing the “rubber balls and glass balls” illustration in a 1991 commencement address. The image is simple: you are always juggling. Some balls are rubber. If you drop them, they bounce. Others are glass. If you drop them, they crack, chip, or shatter. The lesson is not that you should juggle better. The lesson is that you should juggle wiser.

I first heard this metaphor in a deeply personal way last July. A friend on our prayer team at Pregnancy Help Institute told me she felt prompted to come over and shared this very image. She spoke about rubber balls and glass balls and gently reminded me to be careful about which ones I was trying so hard to keep in the air. That moment has stayed with me ever since. (Thank you, Jenny!)

Those working in pregnancy help, especially, are vulnerable to believing every ball is glass. The mission is urgent. The needs are immediate. The stories are heavy. When women face pressure, fear, or coercion, you can feel the weight of their situation after hours. That urgency can quietly convince you that you cannot let anything fall, ever.

But God does not ask you to be everywhere at once. He asks you to be faithful with what He has entrusted to you today.

Scripture gently reorders our priorities. In Luke 10:41–42, Jesus speaks to Martha, overwhelmed with serving: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” 

Martha wasn’t doing a bad thing. She was doing many good things, all at the same time, and her soul was fraying. Jesus was not condemning service. He was calling her back to what mattered most.

That matters for us because pregnancy help is, by nature, a “many good things” calling. 

 Work may be one ball, but it’s connected to others. Family is not a sidebar to your ministry. Church is not an optional add-on. Activities and commitments, even good ones, can multiply until your calendar becomes your master. And self-care, though sometimes dismissed as indulgent, is often the simple stewardship of the body and mind God gave you.

 So, how do we tell the difference between rubber and glass?

 Start by naming your current “juggle.” For many in pregnancy help, it looks like this:

 Work: clients, staff care, volunteer training, fundraising, compliance, crisis response

• Family: spouse, children, household needs, elderly relatives, family rhythms
• Church: worship, small group, serving roles, spiritual leadership at home
• Activities: school events, sports, community responsibilities, friendships
• Self-care: sleep, nutrition, movement, counseling, quiet, sabbath, medical care

 Now ask: which of these are glass for you right now?

 Often, the “glass balls” include your relationship with God, your marriage, your children, your integrity, your health, and the trust of your team. When those crack, they take far longer to restore. Many leaders discover too late that neglecting sleep, skipping time with God, or living on adrenaline does not simply “bounce back.” It eventually incurs a cost.

 Rubber balls are usually the things that can pause and recover without permanent harm: a less-than-perfect inbox, a delayed non-urgent project, a meeting that can be rescheduled, a volunteer task that can wait, a social commitment you can decline, a homemade dinner that becomes sandwiches. Rubber isn’t unimportant. It just means it can hit the ground and still return.

 Here’s the permission many of us need: it is okay to let the rubber balls bounce.

 That may mean choosing to leave work on time two nights a week so your family consistently gets you. Or saying “not this season” to an additional church responsibility, even if it’s a good one, because your first ministry is faithfulness where you already are. It could be stepping back from a child’s extra activity when your home needs you more. Or simply turning off your phone for a set hour, not because you don’t care, but because you do. And (the hardest at times) embracing self-care as stewardship: taking a walk, getting to bed, having a date night, seeing a doctor, practicing a true sabbath.

 This is not selfishness. It is wisdom.

 And here is the second truth: you can do it alone, but you don’t have to.

 Pregnancy help work was never designed to be carried by one person’s strength. Galatians 6:2 calls us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” 

 That is not only for the women you serve; it is for you and your team. 

 Moses learned this the hard way. When the weight of leadership was too heavy, Jethro urged him to share the load, appointing others to help carry responsibility (Exodus 18). Even Jesus sent His disciples out two by two.

 So ask for help without apology. Delegate. Train. Invite others to carry real responsibility, not just busywork. Let someone else answer the phone for an hour while you regain your bearings. Bring a trusted friend into your burdens in prayer. If you are in leadership, model healthy limits so your team knows they are allowed to be human, too.

 The women and families you serve do not need you to be limitless. They need you to be faithful, steady, and whole.

 You will keep juggling. That is life. But today, you can choose to juggle with discernment: let the rubber balls bounce, protect the glass ones, and remember you were never meant to carry this calling alone. God’s grace is not only for your clients. It is for you, too.