Saturday, July 30, 2011

Staying on the Road

Philipians 3:13,14
Good News Translation (GNT)

13 Of course, my friends, I really do not[a] think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.14 So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

Sometimes things in life can be very distracting.  Circumstances and situations that are hard to understand.  Not to mention people...well, let's not even go there.  As the reader may have already figured out, I am an analyzer.  I want to know why, what, where, when and how.  And I will usually spend some time trying to answer those questions about any given situation.  Anyone who has any amount of life experience already knows this is usually a fruitless task.  Our view as mere humans is pretty much one dimensional.  We can see one side really well...our own!  I know that everything, good and bad, has a cause and effect process.  Most of the time, it's pretty easy to figure out cause and effect.  But it can be very distracting when you feel the effects of something you don't know the cause of.  Extremely distracting.  And if one lets themselves be distracted by this kind of thing, it is mind numbing.

My solution to this issue of distraction is to keep refocusing.  Sort of like driving a car.  When you are driving down the road and you look to your right or left, you tend to start steering in that direction.  But you naturally refocus and adjust your steering wheel to stay on the road. 

I find myself having to adjust my heart and mind a little here and there as the distractions of life try to get me off track.  My mental list of priorities comes back into focus.  The distractions fade into my peripheral and there is freedom and clarity.

2 comments:

  1. Well put Sue. I like what Apostle Paul said; "this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
    Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (KJV)
    Niether the distractions of things around or regrets for failures past can stop us from reaching the goal! As one person put it, we just have to "keep on keeping on!"

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  2. Exactly! Nothing can seperate us from the Love of God and our goal if we don't let it. We must keep putting one foot in front of the other going in the right direction, and we will eventually get there. When we lift up our soul unto the Lord,(Psalm 143:8) he will show us the way to walk.

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