I need this year to be radically different than last year or the year before. If I’m not willing to hone in on the one thing I desire, I’ll never achieve it. Over the years I’ve been distracted by pain, fear, anxiety, and certain relationships. I’ve voluntarily been robbed of my time.
Everything can’t have my attention. And I can’t allow the master deceiver to steal it from me any longer. My number one goal for this year is an even deeper intimacy with Jesus. My relationship with Him will not grow if I don’t make a concerted effort to focus on Him and what He is saying to me. And it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take time, vision, determination, and sacrifice.
In optics (film or photography) you can focus on a person or object while everything around it is blurred. As radical as this may sound, that’s what I must do. To focus will require that I blur out other things. It doesn’t eradicate them from existence; I’ll just have to choose not to give my attention, either for a period of time or indefinitely, to the circus of activity trying to distract me. It isn’t enough to say yes to your dream. Saying no to other things is just as important.
Do you live a distracted life? Are you giving too much or all of your attention to activities, people, or thoughts that are holding you back from fulfilling your purpose? I want to encourage you to do a soul inventory.
- What dream have you been holding hostage?
- What is distracting you from working on it?
- What are you willing to give up to achieve it?
- Who are you surrounding yourself with?
- What are you doing with your time?
What will you use your time for this year? Below is an acronym of what focus will mean for me this year. Personalize the acronym to reflect your focus and print it out as a reminder.
Here’s to staying focused! Cheers {raising and clinking my coffee cup with yours}!
- Fearless: I will allow God’s perfect love to cast out all fear.
- Open Eyes: I will seek clarity from the Holy Spirit.
- Consistency: I will spend time every day on my focus.
- Undivided: I will give my all to Jesus.
- Simplicity: I will eliminate distractions.
There is an endless cacophony of noise and voices entering our minds and hearts on a daily basis influencing us. Much of that is out of our control. But what if we deliberately chose to sit and hear from God himself.