I have a tendency to drift. I am not being poetic, just honest. ADD has been my friend for a long time. By the way, did you hear the prayer of the ADD pastor? He started out, “Our Father in heaven, thank you for this beautiful — Oh look, a bird!” See what I mean?
I have a sneaky feeling that I am not alone in this penchant for going off course. While not everyone has a hard time focusing on just one thing, we all tend to leak. We leak vision, we leak enthusiasm, we leak spiritual commitment. I think it is a part of the curse of sin. Nevertheless, when it comes to staying on course with our mission in life, our relationships, and our walk with God we need a stopgap. We need something that fills us up again and again with purpose.
We need focus.
Focus will keep you on course, it will keep you in love, it will fire you up, and it will keep you hot for God. Without it, we drift from project to project, we get discouraged, we stop pursuing our goals, or worse; we feel like we are stuck in the mud spinning our tires but going nowhere.
Here are some important things I have learned about focus. They are not deep but they are life-changing. I have put them in a list for all of the linear thinkers who read this. (The non-linear folks probably don’t read my blogs anyway. They just watch the video blogs.)
1. Begin each day reading the Bible and praying. I MUST do this if I want balance in my life. I have to hear from God and be mentored by the Holy Spirit. I think it is the most important thing I do.
2. Start each day with a “Thank You.” If I start by thinking about and thanking for the many good things in my life it gives me a perspective that I would otherwise miss. This totally changes my attitude and my mood.
3. Celebrate throughout the day. We tend to focus on the negative. Try celebrating even the minor things and watch how much better you feel and how much more focus you have. Celebrate others and make it a habit to point out something they do well.
4. Keep it in perspective. End your day with evaluation and then look at things through God’s eyes. This keeps us from freaking out and it helps us to depend on God. After all, He is in charge anyway. Right?
Peace.
Ritchie