A Matter of Focus

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

C.S. Lewis said:

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.“

One of my favorite spiritual authors, Ann VosKamp wrote in her blog yesterday:

"...stillness with God is always a matter of focus, not of circumstances."

and:

"the only thing that God ever asks is that you answer no long enough to the loud to have time to be out standing in this field where real yield is found in the yes to His proposal of intimacy"

Every answer to life is found in time alone with God and yet we still choose to be too busy.  Too busy to receive peace.  Too busy to receive comfort.  Too busy to receive true joy... real happiness.  We would rather hold on to our precious too-busyness and struggle with every bit of life.  It's just plain crazy!

Being busy is like the new "keeping up with the Joneses" thing.  When we speak with an acquaintance our small talk is likely to be be a one-up-manship about who has been busier.  Oh, we say it like it's a burden, but we are secretly enjoying our martyrdom.  And besides, our friends are truly impressed with how much we manage to fit into one week.

But the thing is, even busy people can manage to spend plenty of time with God.  As Ann VosKamp wrote, "(it's) a matter of focus, not of circumstances."  Even in the middle of our busy-ness we can shift our focus from the noise and activity around us to intimate time with God.

It is the only place to draw strength and peace and everything else we need to make our busy-ness productive.  If we don't have that focus, it is all in vain.

If you like being busy, be busy.  But don't forget to keep your focus on God.  Take time to break away from the loud to find the real yield.

Father,
Forgive us for how we run around our lives doing things that often don't matter.  Help us to shift our focus from trying to out-busy our neighbor to a real connection with you.  Amen.