Distraction.

Almost everyone of you has done it. It's the art of distraction. Those moments that your in a crowd, a room, or even a group, there are fifteen conversations going on around, and you try to take them all in. Doesn't it always result in an inability to actually focus on any one of them? You're not fully engaged. You get tid-bits here and there, yet never enough to do anything with. And I am the worst of all. Much to easily distracted. I am always the one looking for the next shiny thing, Dug the dog with an obsession with squirrels, but it never benefits me, and I let what does matter slip away.

I don't want to live this life distracted. I don't want to be distracted. I don't want to get off course or shift focus. I think of Peter when He stepped onto the waves. He lost focus, was distracted by the waves. By fear. By uncertainty. By the conversation no doubt going through his mind. "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink." It wasn't until he took his eyes off Jesus that he began to sink. I want to be fully engaged. The world is always looking to add its input, but I don't need it in my life. I want my focus to be Jesus. I want to operate that way. I want it to affect my decisions, my direction. I want to be consumed, fully present, fully engaged. To commit, to tune out distractions that don't need my time, my ears, my eyes, my money, my future.

“Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forget. Their dreams become one of those "we'll go there next time" deferrals. The sad thing is, for many there is no "next time" because passing on the chance to cross over is an overall attitude toward life rather than a single decision.”

Know those times when a question is pointedly asked at you, and you can't respond because you weren't actually listening?  Well, when Jesus calls my name, I want to be listening. I want to be focused. Sometimes I'll have to step away from the crowd. Sometimes I'll need to quiet my surroundings. I don't want the dreams that God has for me to be deferred. It is often said that many great visionaries often accomplish their tasks because they have tunnel vision. They are so focused, so determined, nothing else matters, they can't get their minds off of it. What if I had tunnel vision, done right? Determined, focused, I don't want to be deterred by distraction. Maybe it is shiny, maybe there is a squirrel, but do I need to go after it?

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.~Psalm 119:5