Viewing Life Through The Proper Lens
When I was in high school I had a creative writing class. The teacher would play classical music and tell us the subject he wanted us to write about. I loved it. I wrote a lot then because I had an idea I could expound on. The setting worked for me. In writing this blog there are days when God gives me just one word. It pops in my head for no apparent reason. I’m not thinking about anything in particular and boom! Today’s word was FOCUS. This is an interesting word for me.
I wouldn’t say that I have ADD but I do tend to have “squirrel” moments. For example I was thinking about writing how to focus on the will of God, when my mind went chasing squirrels down another road. In fact I started writing the other blog instead of the one I was supposed to write. This is why today’s blog was posted later than usual. You will just have to trust me that it was a crazy squirrel.
The squirrel blog written, I was ready to go, but did a quick read through. I didn’t even get through it when I thought, “What on earth is this nonsense?”
Sometimes life in general is like that for me. I get focused on a task like cleaning the house, but as I am dusting, mopping or straightening I notice something else that I was going to do and had forgotten about. I stop cleaning, just for a moment and tackle the other task. There have been moments where I have forgotten to go back and finish, but the older I get the less often that happens.
I’ve been teaching myself 3D photo realistic modeling and design. One of the things that I have learned is how to render an image using a depth of field setting. For non-photographers, what this does is it focuses on the object that I want the viewer to see, and blurs out the rest of the scene. You can set it for a slight blur or a blur that basically makes everything in the background cloudy and unrecognizable.
One of the reasons that the Christian life gets wonky sometimes is that we get comfortable in being a Christian. Somehow it becomes less important than the crazy around us, which we can’t control anyway. We lose focus and our mind wanders when we are reading scripture or listening to praise songs, or even when we pray. I am guilty of all of those things. Imagining Jesus in these times really helps me stay focused. There are days when my mind seems to go all over the place. My depth of field is off and too much of the background clutter comes into view. I get distracted and forget the goal.
One of the reasons I love to listen to the Bible, rather than read it, is because I’ve always lost focus while reading. My reading comprehension really stinks. When it is read to me somehow I remain focused on what is being said. I even find myself saying "Amen" out loud or nodding my head in agreement. There is so much I have missed by reading it myself because of my focus issue. Most things I have to read multiple times to really understand what I have just read, and there are times when that doesn’t even help.
Imagine Jesus being a master photographer. His camera is always set to the perfect setting. The picture he wants us to see is always exactly in focus. When we let him control the camera, then we can stay focused on the will of God. When we use our own novice settings we end up forgetting to turn on depth of field so everything that isn’t important becomes visible and throws off the focal point. Just like this blog and how I got thrown off with that squirrel earlier.
Imagine Jesus laughing as I was writing that nonsense. Then when I went back to read it he held up a lens that showed exactly how far off his point I had gone chasing that silly squirrel.
Imagine Jesus gently whispering in my ear, “FOCUS”. Then when I did, this blog came out. I am always amazed at where I end up and how the blog gets built around these little ideas.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Please share it with others. You never know who might need a little depth of field adjustment.
Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your paths straight!"
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