Focus

Focusing is hard to do. It's so easy to let distractions come in and destroy our concentration. It's important to stay focused, especially on the Lord Jesus. We need to devote time every day to listening to God, to praying, to studying His word, to immersing ourselves in Him.

In our home, we host an Open House in December every year. Our focus is on cleaning the house, preparing goodies, inviting family, friends, neighbors, enjoying time together. Sometimes it has crossed our minds not to have the party, because of a lack of funds. But then I think, it is not for the food we are hosting it. Its for the fellowship. The focus should be on the fellowship, not on what we have to eat or drink.

If Jesus stopped by your home today, would you:

• Ask Him to wait till you have some free time
• Give Him your undivided attention
• Ask Him to visit someone else first and come back later
• Let Him know what a sacrifice you're making to spend time with Him

I would give Him my undivided attention. At least I think I would. I would prefer to anyway. If I waited until I had free tme, it would never come. If I requested He go elsewhere first and come back later, would He really return? If I was bothered with His visit and told Him so, where was my focus - it surely wouldn't be on my Lord Jesus.

How do you "listen" to Jesus? Through Scripture -- prayer -- music and song -- others who bring a message.

What kinds of "noise" sometimes drowns out Jesus when we're trying to listen to Him?

Distractions I thought of were

• our spouse wanting to talk or asking what you're doing
• having on the radio or TV
• events happening outdoors
• how we're feeling
• our mind wandering elsewhere on things we feel we must get done

Sometimes you might think spending a lot of time with Jesus/God takes you away from everything else. But you know it really doesn't. It depends on what your priorities are and how you've ranked them. When I spend time in Bible study, my day is better. Life is better. Nothing can interfere with you. Nothing can mess it up, because the Lord is right there with you. God can see me through anything, because my focus is on Him, not on me.

My husband is considering returning to school to complete his seminary education. He started many years ago but never finished. At that time, he thought it was the Lord's will for him to be a pastor. But now, years later with work/life experience under the belt, he believes it is the Lord's will for him to be a hospice chaplain. Currently he works as a home health aide in hospice. But he cannot share the gospel. Our focus remains on the Lord. We have looked into clinical pastoral education (CPE) and he has applied for Extended CPE at the University of Iowa. It is a class that meets once a week for 9 months. Interviews are done in the summer with classes starting in September. We are also looking into seminaries which are members of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and what master's degree he should obtain. Some have suggested a Master of Divinity while others a Mastor of Arts in Theology or Religion. While Southern Baptist is our specific denomination, we are not necessarily limiting our choices to only Southern Baptist since becoming a chaplain would bring him in association with all kinds of people with varying beliefs.

It is in waiting that sometimes brings distractions to our focus on the Lord.