Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Focus

Many of you are dealing with weighty issues right now; I am as well. Even those of you who aren't, still face hurdles and frustrations now and again.

These verses are of great comfort to me:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.   ~2 Cor. 4:16-18 

As I reflect on today, I see a series of stark contrasts:
  • waking up with a lingering cough and headache, then remembering how healthy the rest of me is
  • hearing heart-breaking news from one friend, then receiving an apologetic note of reconciliation from another
  • learning that two parents complained I was neglecting their [horribly behaved] sons, then having two former students ask if they could come to my house this weekend
  • overhearing one student talk about how mean I am, then being surprised by another who gleefully snuck up behind me in the grocery store
Most of those examples seem trite, but you can probably guess where I'm going. Once again there's an opportunity to see things as half-full or half-empty. Each day undoubtedly offers dozens of opportunities; it's our choice how to view them and what to focus on.

Given that we're in the middle of Holy Week, it doesn't surprise me that my mind yearns to dwell on the negative stuff -namely on things other than the true Focus of this significant period. I was convicted and inspired by the following passage and am sharing it with you; hope it encourages you, too: 
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.    ~2 Cor. 4:8-10

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