Focus part 1
I think a big part of our problem, collectively, as a society, is that we just want to distract ourselves from our lives. Phones, games, TV, on demand... We watch TV shows about people watching TV shows. My son watches videos of people playing video games. Which I guess isn't really different than watching people play games (sports) on TV. But my point is, we seem to want to focus on everything and anything other than what we really need to focus on. Let me drop my passage of Scripture. From the Message Bible, "Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you" (Proverbs 4:25-26). The road that leads to life is straight and narrow. Sometimes it surely feels like a long and winding road, I grant you. But I'm telling you... we do it to ourselves a lot of the time. We get mixed up, twisted around. We get... distracted. We lose focus. I touch on this verse a lot, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). But if you don't look at the path... its hard to follow the path. If you don't watch your step, its easy to get tripped up. If you don't check yourself, you'll let every little thing that happens wreck yourself. And that's no way to live. Now, as always, I'm not saying you should try to stop feeling things. My mantra is: Feel what you feel, but don't let it control you. Feelings are ok. God gave us the capacity to feel for a reason. But we need to stay focused at the same time. Weep with those who weep. Yes. Joy with those who joy. People need our support, be it good, bad, or ugly. But while its important to show empathy, and to give people what they need, we don't want to get so lost that we can't find our way back home. "I know you're sad. I'm right here with you. But I can't weep forever." I think helping people is pretty much why we're here. Connection. Relationship. Love. And I think there's a lot to be said about ministering out of our hurt. When you've been through something--or even when you're going through something--that's when you really understand it. That's when you have a unique insight about it. "I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I can help you through it." A map is nice, but a guide is priceless. A guide knows the short cuts. The things to avoid. The things to make sure NOT to avoid. So we go through things, I believe, for two reasons: 1. To learn and grow. 2. To be able to help others through what we've been through. So instead of focusing on disctractions... instead of focusing on what's wrong in our lives... we ought to focus on what's right in our lives. What we've gotten out of what we've been through. What we have, not what we don't. And--and this is where I think I'm going with this Rant series in the coming days--what we want. If what you're doing is not serving your goals... why are you doing it? Purpose driven. Focused on what matters. Taking steps to get to where we want to be, rather than just wandering around trying to avoid where we are. The Word--LOVE--is the light to our path. Love shows us where to go. What to do. But we have to then... go there. Do that!