Focus, Focus, Focus!

Beautiful heather in Scotland

     Wearing contact lenses has been a blessing for me over the years.  Because I am at the age where bifocals help with reading, my contacts are fit using a method called mono vision.  My right eye does the reading and my left eye sees things at a distance.  This doesn't work for everyone but for me, it has been the answer.  It is amazing how the brain makes the eyes work together so that I shift from one task to another.  The only time I notice the difference is when I have to close one eye.  Without my contact lenses or glasses, I cannot see well at all.  It is a blurry world out there, and I certainly could not read a thing.  That's why I am exceedingly grateful for the science behind optics.
     In the same way, the Bible helps me find my focus on matters of daily living.  Take for example "worry".  90% of the things we worry about never happen, but we often spend time dwelling on issues over which we have no control.  This is something most of us have experienced at one time or another.
     During my homeschool years, I frequently "worried" about whether I was doing a good job at teaching our children.  Have I covered all the bases?  Am I a good mother?  I wasted a lot of time being concerned when, in fact, God had it all under control.  The outcome of our time with them in the home has proven a rich treasure I store in my heart.  So why do we worry?
     In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His disciples how we are to walk in this world.  When it comes to being anxious, He addresses this clearly in Matthew 6:25-34:  "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which
of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious saying, 'What shall we eat?' or "What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the Gentiles see after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  This is such an important passage to read and re-read.
     Our security and provision are in God's hands.  Jesus is not saying here that we are to sit back and do nothing.  Rather, He is pointing out that our Sovereign God makes a way for us when there seems to be no way.  He always comes through for us and often, in ways we least expected.  Worry reveals a lack of trust in God's ability to provide for His creation.  Yet, all around us we see God's handiwork in the plants and animals He has created.  As Jesus, reminds us, "Are you not of more value than they?"
     Indeed, the Bible brings into focus what we are supposed to be looking at...namely, the Kingdom of God.  We are to seek the Lord and His righteousness.  He will add those things we have need of on a daily basis.  We are not to live a life of worry, but instead, a life of faith in Him.  Since we cannot add one day more to our earthly life by being anxious, I think these are wise words from our Lord.
     Whenever life seems to get out of focus, we need to be quick to go to God's Word.  It is like putting on spiritual glasses with which to see life from our Creator's point of view.  Worry does not need to be in our vocabulary.  Seeking His kingdom first will bring the blessings we need in this life and the next.  Selah!