Stay Focused

When my daughter was just old enough to talk she always repeated things to her Father and I as if we didn't hear her the first time. As she got a little older her technique for communicating important information was still to repeat it but it always was proceeded by, "Mom, are you listening to me?" Waving her little arms toward her face she would motion with her index fingers to her eyes, "Right here Mom, right here, I have to tell you something."  If in her opinion I or her father, didn't engage enough eye contact she would literally grab my face with her tiny chubby toddler hands and turn my eyes towards her begging, "Please Mom look at me, I need to tell you something." What my toddler had to tell me was never life threatening or an emergency, as it would appear but it was important to her and she wanted my complete and undistracted attention focused on her.

Now that Karson is a teenager we joke with her about her behavior as a toddler and she will sometimes now in her cute but annoying way, mimic her toddler behavior just to get a laugh from us and the not so funny smirk from her older brother.

Life can so easily throw distractions our way weekly, daily and for some even hourly: Flat tire, loss of a job, illness, diagnosis of a disease, death, financial loss, tragedy, terrible news via a phone call, war or a government shut-down. It's easy to get side-tracked and focused on our problems, especially when they seem to come on the hour every hour. By the end of a typical day we are exhausted physically and mentally, consumed with the what if's, the how comes, and the why not's! 

All the while God is waiting for our attention. He is wondering why we continue to focus on the problem instead of the problem solver. I sometimes amuse myself and think He may be looking down waving his arms like my toddler and saying, "Hey you, focus on me!" Then with His loving and caring hands he would grab my face and turn it back towards heaven and he says, "Now why are you so pre-occupied with temporary circumstances? Lean not unto your own understanding, my child....just trust me!'

Oh the lessons we can learn from our children. When we turn our focus COMPLETELY on God He gives us peace and in His peace we are able to stop focusing on the problem and start praising the one who can solve the problem. 

Distractions are inevitable, choose what you will do with them. Be determined to keep your eyes upon the Lord who is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think". (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Do you desire to be victorious in overcoming distractions, then look to the PROBLEM SOLVER, keep your focus towards him and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim. 

polly herrin