Today's Devotional Thought
October 04, 2012 by Rachel Piferi
Focus
I was sitting on the back porch of a fancy hotel recently when I was overcome by the sky in front of me. This hotel was waterfront and had a big, brick back porch with rocking chairs lined up for guests to sit and gaze at the riverfront. From where I was sitting, the big white columns of the porch were set against the backdrop of plush, green grass which meandered down to the riverbank. Across the small waterway, I could see foliage and trees which reached up to a beautiful blue sky full of white clouds. As I scanned the skyline, I noticed that the clouds in front of me were huge and white and fluffy. They filled the sky and I could only see glimpses of blue in the breaks within them.
But, as I gazed to my right, the sky was grey and the clouds were not billowing. They were flat and dark and much less inviting than the ones in front of me. And they indicated that storms were coming.
I was really captivated by the stark contrast in the sky that was unfolding in front of me. And from the beautiful back porch of this hotel, I had to decide where I wanted to look. Do I want to look at the beauty in front of me? Or do I want to look at the dark clouds just to my right?
Both were real.
But, where was I going to focus my attention?
It was quite a metaphor for life.
I am sure many of you are like me in that I find myself at any given time simultaneously in the middle of some kind of storm and some kind of sunshine. Anyone who manages multiple roles in their lives knows what I mean. I can have areas of my life that are very good and refreshing, while simultaneously experience sorrow or pain or hardship in another area of my life or the lives of those close to me. We will all, at some point, simultaneously experience good and bad, victories and defeat, sadness and joy.
And the question is, when you are resting and sitting for a moment, where are you going to focus your attention? At the good on the horizon or at the bad?
I am not a big fan of denial and denying that a storm may be upon me, but I am also not going to choose to focus on it for long. I may have times that I camp too long on the dark clouds, but I have learned that it does not do any good to fix my gaze there permanently. I have learned to gather from the storm what I need to know and act on and then fix my gaze on the good that is right in front me.
My advice today...Life is full of seasons that are simultaneously good and bad. Choose to focus on the good around. Choose to be refreshed by meditating on the positive when enduring the negative. Like James says, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of Lights. Friends, focus on that good today and the giver of that good in every season.
December