Staying focused

The first week of school is in the books.  We were all smiles around here and even had enough energy to make it to the Eagle football game.  I think personally the new clothes, new crayons, and new classrooms help give us a push, like pushing off the side of the pool to get a head start when you are in a swimming race.  You push off hard when you want to win.  We push off hard at the first of the year, but it definitely gets harder when the new wears off.  Then, we have to focus more.

This topic is fitting for me this morning because I usually write on Sunday nights after I get everyone to bed.  I chose a movie last night with my kids and put this off until Labor Day morning.  We recorded George Strait’s concert “The Cowboys Rides Away” and it is currently proving to be the biggest distraction.  Between singing old songs and looking up at the big screen to see which special guest is joining George, I am struggling.  My husband is cooking a pot of beans and just got out a meat tenderizing mallet to divide up his frozen bacon.  I thought someone had crashed into the house when he made his initial chop.   I regained my composure, and then had to get up and find his baggies and wooden spoon. 

The kids needed me to help salvage a sausage biscuit and now they are building a tent.    Finishing this column will be a true test for me on staying focused and doing my best!  It will be nothing short of a miracle if I get it finished before the paper calls me.  Blaise just asked if George Strait was married to Sheryl Crow and said she thought Kid Rock was dead.  The thought occurs to me I should take my laptop and move to another room or perhaps the roof of the house, but I am not going to.  I am going to stay put, even though a pink monkey just flew by me and someone is singing the “Meow Mix” jingle. 

We often have to make the choice in life to do just that…to stay put, work through the distractions and storms.  This type of focus and intentional living requires an anchor because without one we will get pulled to and fro, never finishing anything.  Without the anchor of Jesus Christ, the consequences can be worse than just getting tossed about though.  We can totally give up.

We talked about a song yesterday in Sunday school that relates to this topic, “The Anchor Holds” by Ray Boltz.  It is a beautiful song, but the concept is even more beautiful.  The anchor of Jesus Christ DOES hold.  IT HOLDS through cancer, sending a loved one to heaven, exhaustion when the daily ins and outs of life are just too much.  It holds through family drama, teenage drama, addiction, job loss, job gain, and the many distractions we face.  The anchor of Jesus holds through the big storms and the little storms of life, that at the moment do not seem so little. 

The song says “The anchor holds, though the ship is battered, the anchor holds, though the sails are torn.  I have fallen on my knees, as I faced the raging seas, the anchor holds, in spite of the storm. “ My prayer this week is that Believers remember that the anchor holds.  If you do not have the anchor of Jesus in your life, you have to know something is missing.  Someone is missing and He wants to be the anchor of your life.  Pray and ask Him to be.