My son can’t keep his eyes on me when I talk to him. Granted, he is only
six, but his small eyes wander left and right when I’m giving
instruction. It drives me nuts.
“Hey boy, Mama is over here, not under the table…”
I hate it the most during those lean-in kind of conversations, the ones
where I really need him to pay attention because I have something
important to say. When his head starts spanning the ceiling, I just know
he isn’t listening. I’ve lost him somewhere. It is usually hard to
bring him back and get him to hear me.
Like my son, we can’t easily hear God when our eyes are off him…
We can’t easily follow what He is doing when we look left and right and all around. We miss His directions.
waving his arms, trying to tell us where to go. But if we have our head
turned in other directions, thinking about random thoughts, annoyances,
pestering people and pain-soaked problems, we won’t see what he is doing
or saying to lead us.
So how do we keep our eyes on God so we can follow him? How do we focus our attention on his Word, on prayers and on his beauty so we find ourselves full of his joy?
I’ve mulled over this question long and hard, day after day, week after
week and the more I consider it, the more I am finding these steps keep
intimacy in this crazy world.
5 Ways to Keep Focus on God:
- Give yourself allowance. You have a human mind that does
human things. It gets distracted. It wonders about random people. It
notices ancillary objects. It tallies up its list of to-dos.Don’t hate
yourself for getting off track. Just choose to get back on. - Go back to where you last were with God. Example: If you are
reading the bible and you find your mind has gone off another trail,
return it back to where you last were.Pick up on the last place you
remember being with God. - Swap what you listen to. I watched a Nazi film last night. I
couldn’t think about God, nonetheless sleep. But on the nights I pray
before bed, I go to bed thinking, dwelling and at peace with
God.Sometimes you have to swap what you watch or partake in. - Ask for God’s help to stay awake to him. Then, act like it’s Christmas. Know that today, God has something good for you and you don’t want to miss it.
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jer. 33:3
- 5. Shut it all down. Literally. Shut down your phone,
computer and your active-lifestyle. Pick a certain amount of time and
call it off limits. Let no one, no how, no way encroach on that time
with God. Then, during this time, refer to items 1-4 above.
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” (Is. 26:3)
The more you practice these things, the more these things will
seamlessly and effortlessly become part of your life. They’ll soak into
your thinking, living and doing… and before you know it, you’ll find
yourself walking with God far more often than you’re not.
[written by Kelly Balarie]
