Today I am recovering from concussion as a result of a football making contact with my unsuspecting head. But what I have noticed is that I am able to function and go about my day productively if I fix my focus on just one situation and thought at a time. However if I allow my brain to do what it normally does, being very busy and often darting from one thought to the next, my head actually starts to hurt.
It reminds me about a story I once read about a man picking strawberries in a strawberry patch. This man would pick a strawberry here… and then he’d look up and see another strawberry a couple of rows away and off he’d run to pick that berry. Then he would look up and see another berry a few plants away and off he’d go, again and again and again all across the patch. In the time it took him to fill one bucket, others around him had filled ten.
That’s because this man’s eyes were always wandering across the strawberry patch looking for the easiest berries to find, instead of staying focused on what was before him. The bible says that a fool is like that, but “the perceptive find wisdom in their own front yard; fools look for it everywhere but right here“ (Proverbs 17: 24 –The Message).
God doesn’t want our lives to be full of toil, disappointment and unrealised dreams. He is right here with us, desiring to speak and lead us into far more than we could ever find, or dream up by ourselves. (Ephesians 3:20). He wants to impart vision, for us to be focused in life and to know where and what we are called to do each day. Sadly though we can all be like the man in the strawberry patch, running frantically here and there as we search for meaning, success and happiness but never fully achieving or reaching our goals and potential.
Today take time to consider what God has placed in your heart to focus upon?
Choose wisely what are the most important aspects of your life and then hone your focus as you ask God for His wisdom and for Him to lead you.
Focus on what and who really matters, seek wisdom, and determine not to be like the man in the strawberry patch who wore himself out for little reward when he could have been blessed with so much more.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believing, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”(James 1:6-8 The Message)
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)
“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps”. (Proverbs 16:9)
Prayer: Lord please help me to be focused on what is really important and not be pressured by every thought or fancy that pops into my head or be influenced by those around me. I choose to fix my eyes firmly ahead to where you are leading so that I may follow. In Jesus name Amen.