With that big math test coming up, with trying to find a babysitting job or a lawn to mow to get some extra cash, how can we even focus on right now?
How are we expected to be focused when everything around us is crazy, out of order, and just plain chaotic?
No day but today.
I found myself getting caught up in the world. It would be Monday and I would be too busy worrying about what would be happening on Saturday. I would be running around crazy, too focused on things I had to get done, that I wasn’t focusing on Jesus.
When we find ourselves running around, worrying about things, how do we usually end up feeling??? EXHAUSTED! OVERWHELMED! Maybe even ANXIOUS!
About a month ago, I was running around like I said before, like a crazy person. On top of that, when I was having a nice relaxing moment, I would allow it to be ruined by thinking of the fact that the next day I would have to work a ten hour shift or that I had something else that I needed to get done.
Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
I looked over that verse and took on the thought, one day at a time. Easy said in done though right? I have been learning a lot about choices lately. We have the opportunity to make choices daily, hourly. Sprite or Pepsi? Go on Facebook or get homework done? Worry about tomorrow or choose to focus on today? The choice was made, and it helped! Monday, I would think only about Monday things, Tuesday , Tuesday things, and so on and so on. If it was a Wednesday and I knew I had to work ten hours on Saturday (bleh), I would wait to think about it till the time came, when it was actually Saturday. In the end, it actually made work a bit more bearable.
There is a reason Matthew 6:34 is in the Bible. Jesus wants us to live today. BE HERE NOW. He doesn’t want us to be stressing out over things that aren’t even going to happen yet, for “today has enough troubles of its own” – and He isn’t kidding!
By focusing on TODAY, we notice more things. Moments that may have been lost on us are experienced fully. Lessons that may have been looked over are learned.
Fortunate Camera Malfunction
For the past 12 days I went on a camping and canoeing trip that’s a requirement for Gordon College. A major theme in the trip was this philosophy “Be Here Now.”
We were never told what time it was, there was no such things as 9:30 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon. And when we would ask what we would be doing next, we were always told, “We’ll get there.”
I brought my camera on this trip and was EXTREMELY excited to take photos and capture everything that I would be doing. On day two, my camera began to act weird. Eventually it just wasn’t working. I was quite upset. I now wouldn’t be able to capture the moments of La Vida; at least, I didn’t capture them in the way I had intended.
Going through the days, I began to soak in the world around me. I could concentrate on the beauty of the water, how at moments it looked almost solid; the next it looked like it had the texture of oil. The woods/forests around us ranged from thick walls of pine trees to areas that felt more like I had canoed past a safari.
When I was rock climbing, I wasn’t thinking I need to get a photo of this (well, I wasn’t thinking that AS much…still human here ;D), but that this is awesome (even though I never was able to climb to the top…). Soon I began to realize that my camera malfunctioning was in fact, a GOOD thing.
I’ve always been a picture taker. At any event, I have my camera out and would walk away with at least a hundred photos. During La Vida, I learned that I had always been to busy trying to capture moments, that consequently, I wasn’t living the moments.
How much do we go about life through a “camera,” focusing on the wrong thing while we should just be focusing on now?
SINKING
Matthew 14:29-30 - “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”
So, the disciples are out on a boat, minus Jesus. Looking out onto the water, they get frightened thinking that a ghost is walking towards them. It’s no Casper, but Jesus the Son of God. Peter calls out to Jesus, “If you are who you say you are…then ask me to walk to you out on the water?” Jesus does just that. GULP. Peter made his way out of the boat (I wonder if he put one foot down to quickly test the water first or if he just went for it…) and WALKED on water. Suddenly, a good gust of wind blew by and Peter noticed it. His eyes went from Jesus to looking out on the water. Automatically he began to sink. A call out for help, and IMMEDIATELY Jesus grabbed his hand.
How does this relate to Be Here Now and Focus? What happened the moment Peter lost Focus of Jesus? He sank. How true is that in our lives?! Our lives are bumpy like the ocean and can crash around us. The world itself is fierce like the wind. It’s distracting.
When we make our focus be Jesus, the things we can do! We can even “walk on water!” But…how do we keep from getting distracted? How do we focus on Jesus, when we got so many things that need to get done and accomplished?
What are we to do? You know how race horses have those blinders that they wear so not to see anything else but what is ahead. Should we just put on blinders, not paying attention to the world around us and just see Jesus. Yes and no. Our focus must be Jesus. But we can’t ignore our homework for school – even though I’m sure we all would like to. So then, how do we go about doing all the we must do in our life while keeping our focus on Jesus?
Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Seek Jesus FIRST…and then everything else will follow. Simple, but by no means simplistic.
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