Keep Your Focus

I’m an avid photographer. Not professional, but I take tons of pictures. And, I love my digital camera. Sometimes I move my Nikon when I’m taking a picture and the digital screen reveals a blurry photo immediately, so I can try again.

Years ago we were using rolls of film and our photography mistakes weren’t revealed until we paid for them to be developed. By then, we couldn’t recreate the party, wedding, graduation or African safari to have another opportunity for a perfect shot.

Whether by using a wrong setting or by moving the camera, the memory we wanted to capture was out of focus…forever lost.

Being out of focus happens in our daily lives on a regular basis. Whether through a flu diagnosis, an over-draft notice from the bank or a troubled teenager causing havoc in the home, we all face our own set of troubles and trials. There will be fender-benders, job losses and tooth aches.

It’s life.

No one is immune.

As Christians plodding through the trenches of our daily grinds, what do we do? Scripture speaks directly to our challenges. The words don’t say ‘fender-bender’ or ‘over-draft’ issues, but it does say to keep our focus on things above.

Psalms 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth,

He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you

will not slumber.

When facing challenges, we’re encouraged to ‘lift our eyes’ and peer intently, purposefully, on things above. This corrects our focus, realigning our thinking on the ways of God.