Have you ever caught yourself staring at something or someone and yet your mind is so far gone that you don't even truly see what is in front of you? Have you ever read something three times in a row, yet your mind is off somewhere else and you have no idea what you just read? As I was trying to do my devotions, I opened my Bible to begin reading. I read part of the chapter, and my mind wandered; I read it again, and there it goes again! After the third time of reading it, and yet having my mind consumed with the tasks of the day ahead of me, I realized my focus was completely gone. In frustration, I closed my Bible, and began to pray for focus.
"Focus"...in this crazy world of constant technology, kids, and work, our lives become this jumble of never ending tasks. We get up in the morning, and our to do list seems to get longer each day. As our children get older, they get more involved in activities, and of course, then so do we! Noise is all around us the second that alarm goes off. We surround ourselves with music, from our cars to our iPods. The kids never stop talking and neither does our boss! We bounce from one thing to the next all day as our schedule grows, and the day dwindles. Once home, we have supper to prepare, kids to bathe, homework to help with, and by chance, we may get to sit down for a moment to watch that favorite show. In the midst of all this chaos, it sometimes becomes hard to focus on God. And...when we do take the time, we give Him what's left. A long day, tired body, quick prayer as you drift off to sleep, and we start our day all over again, giving God a small amount of time. I sometimes ask my kids to compare the amount of time they watch t.v. to the amount of time they read the Bible or pray.
We all know that there are many things that consume our day, and the ability to read more Bible than the amount of time we have to spend working is obviously not possible. But, when we do take the time to sit down and read or pray, where should our focus be? We need to find a time each day that we can actually sit down in peace and quiet. It is easier said than done for those moms who have screaming children that never seem to take naps at the same time. We all know there will be days when it all seems impossible, but can you imagine spending a day not talking to your child? Now imagine a week goes by, or a month and you have not spoken to them once. This is how our Heavenly Father feels about us. We give and talk to everyone else all day long and at the end of the day have no time or words left for Him. So we try to throw in a quick prayer as we think about food instead of how thankful we are, or a prayer before bed as we are thinking only about how tired we are and what we need to accomplish the next day.
Let us try to set aside time each day to focus on God and His word. Start off small, and as we start to focus on God, He will allow the stresses of this world to become less important and the need to spend more time with Him will become greater.
Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. "
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