Even if we count the prequels for fun . . . the impression I got from the original six films is that the Jedi viewed “bring balance to the Force” as “make sure the light side wins”. Whether or not that qualifies as balance is up in the air, but it at least makes sense inside the story. Luke helps turn Vader back into Anakin, who then kills the Emperor.
Then TLJ throws a monkey wrench by implying that the Force tries to balance itself between light and dark. Snoke could’ve just been sharing his weird opinion, but it goes too far in explaining Rey’s aptitude.
As far as the Force having a will? That could very well be but a superstition among Jedi and to a lesser extent Sith (who like to preach about destiny). There are ghosts living in the spiritual realm who have minds of their own, I guess. Maybe “will of the Force” is the majority vote of a ghost committee. 😛
Your interpretation of the awakening is nice and sound. I agree. 😃
I don’t recall Snoke’s exact speech about ‘balance’ in TLJ (looking forward to revisiting it all on Bluray next week!) but the idea of the Force automatically balancing itself renders the whole thing rather redundant. Luckily with all the broad strokes painted throughout the saga we can generally take our canon a la carte!
The ghost committee is interesting, although it would have to be comprised only of Qui Gon, Yoda, Obi Wan, and a somewhat red-faced Anakin (not sure anyone else learned netherworld conversion techniques). Perhaps ol’ Plagueis is there too wondering why all these Jedi are standing around smiling!