“I can’t see a thing you’re talking about!” I said to the optometrist as she flipped the lenses on her machine. My chin and forehead were glued to her contraption and my cute hair and eyelashes were now a thing of the past. “Can you read the top line?” she asked in disbelief. “No ma’am. It’s blurry and I can’t read any of the letters.” She laughed, scratched her head and said, “Did you put in the trial contact I gave you?” I had in fact put in the contact and I was a little disgruntled that she was keeping me from my lunch date at Chick-Fil-A.
She moved her machine and said, “Look at the light.” After blinding me in my other eye, she laughed and said, “I think I know why you can’t see. There’s no contact lens in your eye.” I’d put the contact in my eye but at some point it fell out without me knowing it.
Have you ever lacked the ability to see things clearly? Like my moment at the optometrist, things are blurry and out of focus and you don’t even know how it happened? Wouldn’t it be great if gaining our focus was as easy as popping in a contact lens?
When pressures seem they will squeeze the life out of us and uncertainty leaves us walking aimlessly through life, we need a reminder to stay focused. But how? The key is being intentional about WHAT we focus on.
Diffused light isn’t very bright, but when we focus a light, the way becomes brighter. Walk into a dark room and shine a flashlight. It’s easy to see the way into the room.
Proverbs 21:25 reminds us that good planning and hard work “leads to prosperity” but “hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”
What are you choosing to intentionally focus on today? Are you setting a few goals that help light the way to the plan God designed just for you? Are you focusing your hard work on those specific goals? Trying to change everything at once can be overwhelming. Setting a few specific goals leads to a life of intention. For example, are you just saying you want to spend more time with your kids or are you setting aside a specific time each week to spend time on nothing but them? Are you saying you want to write a book or are you sitting down once a day for 30 minutes and logging ideas? See the difference?
Do you need to see more clearly? Try changing your lens. What verses help you focus on where God is taking you? Write them in your journal or post them on your wall. Each day, thank God that He has specific plans for your life. Then, move with Him as His focus becomes your direction.