One of my favorite clips that demonstrates this "distracting" behavior is from the movie UP
This happens on a practical level in just everyday life...
I head downstairs to grab a cup of coffee, turn the coffee maker on, but then see the dishes in the sink...
start to load the dishwasher and remember that I forgot to change over the laundry, so I head to the washer & drier...
walking back into the kitchen, I realize the time and run upstairs to wake up the girls...
seeing as I'm upstairs, I grab another load of laundry and head back downstairs...
start to do the laundry, but worry that I won't have time to get their breakfast AND fix their hair, so I start a batch of bran muffins instead...
go over to grab the flour and see my cold cup of coffee, from earlier...when I first started the morning...
and that's typically how it goes...
This also happens on a relational level too...
I find myself talking on the phone with my bff, but distracted by the limited amount of time I actually have to chat and get anything accomplished in a day...
not to mention that I see my Bible laying out or a verse I have printed...it's as if I give Jesus 2 seconds of my day, "hey there, good to see you this morning...I'm in a bit of a hurry...just distracted with all that needs to get done" and then I'm off to the next thing...
I try to make time for exercising...but that hasn't worked since last June
I try to make time for new recipes...but then I get going on pinterest or facebook and forget what I was looking up in the first place.
I try to carve time for reading with my girls...but TV is so much more accessible and I still haven't cleaned up from dinner...
Each year I try to pick a "word" that will help me "become" who I am created to be during that year...I know that I'll never achieve it fully on earth...and that's okay..it's actually freeing to recognize it.
However, to stay stagnant and lukewarm is unacceptable...
the first year I tried it, my word was SEE
the second year the word was CHOOSE
this year, my word is FOCUS
However, I use it in terms that I can understand...being a photographer, FOCUS is of utmost importance...if you don't have that...you don't have an image...plain and simple...you don't get the memory, the moment, the captured time...if you don't get FOCUS, you've missed the mark...
Fortunately, "FOCUS" can be used in a gazillion ways...Focus is mostly set with your use of Aperture (this is the ring inside the lens that determines how much light to let in and in tandem, how much blur will be caused)...There are multple settings for aperture too...with a lower f-stop, you focus in on ONE thing and one thing only...everything else is a blur...with a higher f-stop, everything in your view finder is in perfect sharpness & clarity...
With each image, each circumstance, each moment...I choose my Aperture accordingly...
this year, I want to FOCUS appropriately in real life moments...
There are times, where the "distractions" of life, are just that...LIFE...it's okay to have a million things on my plate to get accomplished...it's called being a wife and mom...my number one jobs & priority...yes, it's tiring, but it's worth it...my aperture is set to a high number and everything is in focus and needs to be attended to...
What I need to remember this year, is when to lower my aperture...when to set the blur to everything else and FOCUS in on what's most important...to go ahead and lose clarity on the unimportant things, so that my eyes stay crisp & clear on what is set before me.
I find it interesting that my past two years worth of words culminate to this one...If I am SEEing as Jesus would have me SEE and then I CHOOSE how to act accordingly...I will then set my FOCUS on what is most important.
I know I will fail at this over and over again this year...I'm not perfect, nor do I pretend to be...
However, I don't ever want to stop "becoming"...I'm continually offered this grace...an undeserving person receiving unconditional acceptance by a God who is not obligated to do so...but, DOES out of love...THAT is what I want to motivate, to spur me on...
The squirrels will always be there and sometimes, they will get the better of me...but, in 2015, I want to put my FOCUS into what really matters and not so much on all the things that end up draining me and leaving me feeling unimportant and sometimes like a failure.
It's a year to realize that I have the ability to evaluate (see & choose) and discern the moments and circumstances that arise...I can also choose to blur "good things" in order to accept "better things" OR focus in on just a little, but enjoy it to the fullest...
Happy New Year :) I wish you a year in FOCUS :)
