Month: October 2020

Is anyone else out there struggling with focus?  Focusing on Jesus, focusing on His message, focusing on His Word, focusing on His promises, focusing on His plan, focusing on the positive, focusing on His guidance, focusing on His direction, focusing on His still small voice?  Well, I am, big time!  The world we’re living in right now really is not ideal for an ADHDer like myself.  There are just way too many things going on – COVID, confirmation, election, work, life in general.  Can anyone else relate?

I tell you what, I’ve been a bear (my family and friends can attest to that).  I feel like my world, which is probably the same as your world is spinning so fast that my mind is boggled, and I struggle to focus.  There are so many things going on, all at the same time, that with the speed of my thoughts I’m getting whipped into a good ole focusless frenzy.  Picture me (or yourself if you’ve got the same thing happening) standing there with a duh look on my (your) face and the words of my (your) thoughts just swirling around above my head (or your head) so fast they are just a blur.  If I’ve looked at you lately and my eyes didn’t look like there was anyone home, there probably wasn’t.  I’m having trouble focusing.  You too?  So, as believers, what do we do?  We Fight for Focus – F³.  How do we do that?

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God’s throne.  Hebrews 12:2

Just like Jesus…  Jesus fixed his eyes on God, His Father, on whom He depended from beginning to end.  What a prime example He gave us.  If anyone had a right to be distracted, it would have been Jesus.  Distracted by unbelievers, distracted because of fish, distracted because of waves, distracted because of Pilate, distracted because He was being betrayed, distracted because all of His followers left Him, distracted because He was tortured, distracted because He was crucified.  But, here’s the thing – Jesus never lost focus.  He didn’t say “I just can’t think about that right now.” or “There’s too many things going on to be crucified.”  He didn’t give up because of what was going to happen.  He persevered because of what was going to happen to Him and what was going to happen for all of us.  How did He do that?  Well, honestly, He was Jesus.  But, He stayed connected to God.  He was obedient to God.  He did what God told Him to do.  Throughout His entire life He called on the name of His Father.  That’s our answer.

You see, if He knows the number of hairs on our head (or not), don’t you think He knows the number of thoughts swirling in our minds?  He understands.  Remember, Jesus walked this earth, and though He did not sin, He was human.  He knows what we’re going through. So, how do we Fight for Focus?

In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried out to my God. And from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help reached His ears. 2 Samuel 22:7

He says it quite simply.  Call on Him.  When we call on Jesus focus is possible.  When we are mired in the relentless thoughts swirling through our minds, we call on the name of the Lord.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. 2 Samuel 22:17

And He answers.  Always. He will reach down from on high and take a hold of us and pull us out of the deep waters of our mind chaos.  He brings peace, discernment, and organization to our thoughts.  If we have to call on the name of Jesus a million times a day to maintain focus, that’s what we do.  When we can’t quite formulate our call to Him, when we just don’t have words, simply say His name – Jesus.  I can’t help but think He smiles every time He hears one of His children call His name.  Every time we call on His name we can smile too – we know whence our help comes from to focus.  It comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.

Did you see that moon?  Wow!  I have a thing about the moon.  I mean I love the sun, it’s a magnificent creation, our daylight and our dayheat.  But, there’s just something about the fall moon.  The other morning, I was sitting on my front porch mooning.  Not the kind of mooning you’re thinking about.  The kind of mooning in the pitch blackness of early morning, very early morning.  The blackness made by turning off all the outside lights.  It is unbelievable what you can see when you turn out the lights!  Another day…Follow me to the front porch, in the silence of the early morning, in the darkness, to a chair.

This morning I sit and gaze at the moon.  All moons are beautiful but this one’s special.  This round, yellow-white, humongous moon was placed carefully in the sky, on the Fourth Day!  With the naked eye you can see outlines and details on this moon.  Spectacular!  So, in the darkness, I moonbathe.  Ever been moonbathing?  It’s similar to sunbathing, only better.  The moon is at about 2:00 over the mountain.  From where I’m sitting, it’s behind a big old maple tree.  You know when the sun is out and there’s a tree, you try to hide your eyes with a branch so you can see?  You know what I mean, right?  Well, it’s the exact opposite with the moon.  Instead of hiding from the moon behind the branches, I find myself searching for the moon around the branches.  The light shines in the darkness – heard that before?  I close my eyes and I sit.  I feel the fall breeze, listen to the tinkling leaves trying to hold on for just one more day.  I feel the moon on my face and I bathe in its glory and in the One who created it.

I think about how well I can see the moon in the darkness, and how incredibly bright it seems to be.  So bright that it casts shadows.  Then I think, would I realize how bright the moon was if it wasn’t so dark.  When the sun’s out, it is always bright, there is no darkness.  Do we even notice?  Not much.  I don’t always see the sun, because it’s always there.  Does that make sense?   I don’t recognize how bright the light, until I’ve seen the darkness.  I would not be able to glory in the moon and the One who created it, if it were always light.

Life’s like that too, you know.  We must sometimes travel in the dark to recognize the light.  There are many different kinds of darkness.  Physical darkness – illness.  Spiritual darkness – sin.  Emotional darkness – anxiety.  Relationship darkness – separation, abuse.  Financial darkness – there’s just not enough.  We’ve all got dark.  But there’s an incredible hope, a Light.

Because of God’s tender mercy, the light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.

Luke 1:78-79

Do you see what that says?  When we are overcome with darkness, when the night is pitch black,  when the dark hole is so deep, God will break upon us.  He will visit, descend, show up, make Himself known, appear, through the Light of Heaven, Jesus His only Son.

Psalm 112:4 puts it another way:

When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in.  The Lord is generous, compassionate and righteous.

When we are in our darkest moments because we’ve made an ever-loving mess of things, or due to circumstances completely beyond our control, when darkness has overtaken us – our spirits, our thoughts, our actions, our wallets, our relationships, our whatevers, the Light, not a light, but the Light will come in.  It doesn’t say that Light may show up, that it will be subtle, it says BURSTING in.  Jesus always shows up.  Not just a tiny speck of light in the darkness, but a full moon, so bright you can find your way.

Here’s the thing, the Light comes, not because of who we are or what we do, but because of who He is.  Remember what it said?  He is merciful.  He is peace-filled.  He is generous.  He is compassionate.  He is righteous.  He is Light.   The light does shine in the darkness and the darkness has not extinguished it.  It just can’t.  What incredible Light for our darkness.  The Light that gives Light to everyone.   To all who receive Him.  To all who call upon Him.

Sometimes we don’t know how dark it has been until we see the Light.

There’s a tree lined development on the way to our home.  Every time I ride by it, I’m curious.  Anywhere from 8-10 trees line each side of the paved entrance to that development.  When the leaves change this time of year, they really are quite beautiful.  The thing that interests me about these trees is that even though they are all the same species, all the same age, all planted at the same time, and all are exposed  to the same growing conditions – same rain, same sunshine, same wind, they’re all very different. Check them out.  Their leaves run the spectrum from a few browns to plentiful robust green to glowing reds.  They range in appearance from lifeless to vibrant. 

It made me think – isn’t that how we people are too?  I don’t know about you, but there are times I’ve felt spiritually lifeless, spiritually robust and spiritually glowing – sometimes all in the same day, or even the same minute.  Now I’m not a treeologist, but it was so odd to me that each of these trees had the exact same growing conditions yet appear so different.  Why is that?  I’m not sure, but it would seem to me that if they all had the same water, sun, wind, if they all faced the same living conditions, it would have to be something happening, or not happening in the trunk, you know, the heart of the tree – the foundation.  How did the tree use internally the provisions of nourishment to give it life?  Could it be the outer appearance changes are a result of how the inner tree used its provisions?  It stands to reason.

And the bread that God gives is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world.  John 6:33

Why are we sometimes brown with very few leaves and at other times robust and glowing?  Could our appearance change have something to do with our trunk, our foundation, our heart?  Could it be that there’s something in our trunk that doesn’t allow us to lap up the Living Water?  Could it be that we don’t take in the nourishment of the Bread of Life?  It could be all of the above. 

But the Holy Spirit will come and help you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you.  John 14:26

We are reminded of where our Help comes from.  We are reminded that there is Someone who was sent by the Lord to teach us how to lap up the Living Water and feast on the Bread of Life.  We are reminded that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. 

Mom was a gift giver.  Now, I’m going to tell you right off the bat that good gift givers are terrible, terrible gift receivers.  Sorry Mom, but true. 😊  Tanya, Daddy and I always agonized over gifts for Mom.  Birthday and Christmas gifts were always challenging.  It seemed that no matter what we got for Mom, no matter how thoughtful we were being, we always got the “Oh, that’s nice.”  We’re like, what do you means that’s nice — it’s wonderful! It didn’t matter how much we spent or how personal (that was big for Mom) the gift, or how excited we were that it was just the right gift, our gifts always seemed to fall flat.  We always took that personally, you know, like we just couldn’t please her.  Maybe that was true, but in hindsight, I don’t think so.  Those folks out there who are the best gift givers are always the worst gift receivers, not because you can’t please them, I don’t think that’s it at all, but because they are completely selfless.  They would rather do the giving than the receiving and therefore, receiving makes them feel uncomfortable and all they can say is “Oh, that’s nice.”  Mom always wanted to be the gift giver never the gift receiver.

Looking back now, I realize that Mom’s greatest gifts were gifts literally from her heart.  She loved this Marine enough to quit high school in her senior year and move to Camp Lejeune, North Caroline, at the age of 17, much to my grandparents’ dismay.  She gave the gift of love to Tanya and I and although I think they’re all stories, I hear I tested that love quite often.  She loved Jeff and Tony as her own, unconditionally.  There isn’t a word to explain Mom’s love for her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.  It was simply too big. Mom’s gift of love for Aunt Sandi and Uncle Harry and all her nieces and nephews was unmeasured.  Mom adored her family.

Mom’s gift giving spread to all those around her, from the words she spoke, to the cards she sent, to the love she gave.  Mom’s gifts were always lavish and generous.   Mom would spend hours searching for just the right gift and would get so frustrated, and yes, angry, when she didn’t find the perfect gift.  She hated giving cash or gift cards.  We loved it.  But, Mom didn’t think enough thought had gone into the person if that was the gift – she thought that was the easy way out.  We liked cash!

Mom’s greatest achievement in life was being a nurse.  It surpassed everything else.  It was another gift giving opportunity for her.  She started college fulltime when I did.  Mom finished, I didn’t.  Although Mom finished 3^rd in her class at Shepherd, Mom was voted by the class to be the speaker at the pinning ceremony by her classmates.  They too had been recipients of her generous gift giving — cheerleading, encouragement and love.

Mom went on to become nurse manager of OB at City Hospital where she again gave lavish gifts.  Some of those gifts are still turning up.  Over the weekend,  – – one of the nurses Olivia works with just found a note of encouragement in her locker from 1993 from Mom – it was a treasured gift.   There are nurses out there today because Mom gave the generous gift of books, classes, and most importantly, encouragement.

From the small happy day gifts she gave, a hug, a treat for your dog,  a notecard of encouragement, to books, to unconditional love, to gift cards, Mom was a generous gift giver.

Mom was one of the most generous gift givers I knew.  It wasn’t the kind of generosity you’d expect.  She did not flaunt it, she received no recognition for it.  In fact, if she knew I wrote about it I’d be getting the look – you know the one I mean – the one only Mom could give.  When I think back over her life, I see time and time again her giving, her sharing, her unselfishness, her generosity, her gifts. They are beautiful nuggets of comfort.

But, let me tell you about the greatest, most generous gift Mom ever gave us – she introduced us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  That is the gift she gave her family and those she came into contact with — the gift of Hope.  There were times we didn’t really want to open that gift and we did our share of eye rolling at it, and that’s where Mom’s gift of unconditional love came in.  But, when we finally unwrapped that most precious gift, it was priceless – Mom introduced us to the Ultimate Gift through the Ultimate Gift Giver, Jesus Christ. The gift of Eternity.

Not only did Mom give us the gift of the Gospel, she gave us the gift of peace.  We know that we are now only separated for a time not for an eternity.  That’s the second greatest gift you can give to someone.  Only when you know where someone will spend eternity can you truly say — It is well – It is well, with my Soul, and it is.

So we celebrate a beginning, not an end.  We have all been recipients of Mom’s generous gift giving.  Mom would be honored if we lavished those gifts on everyone we met, a word of encouragement, a hug, a bone for Rover, the gift of Jesus Christ – Eternity.  Please go be gift givers.  Give the most generous greatest gift from the Ultimate Gift Giver, Jesus Christ.  Give the gift of Eternity to someone else by introducing them to Jesus so it too can be well with your Soul.