focus

BE LIKE THE DEER

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God (Psalm 42:1 New King James Version).

While driving home one evening, I passed a small family of deer. They were fairly close to the roadside, yet oblivious to the traffic whizzing by, intently grazing on the delectable grass after a day of heavy rain. They were so focused on eating, not even an ear moved nor did a head pop up to gaze at passing cars.

God has gifted me with the ability to multitask, and I have learned to do it well. While this is a huge blessing, it can also be a hindrance if I am not paying attention. There are times where I juggle 3 to 6 things at one time and manage to accomplish what I set out to do. This is when it’s a blessing. However, there are also times I multitask when I shouldn’t. It’s evident when I step back to look at what I’ve done and realize my attention was elsewhere. We do this with God, sometimes. There have been times where I’ve been reading my bible, yet thinking about the day ahead, planning meals and scheduling my workday. There have been times when I’ve sat down to pray, only to be distracted by household chores, pets and family. While this may not be bad because we must take advantage of every opportunity to connect with the Lord- when done all the time, it can leave me very dry and very hungry because I didn’t take the time to focus only on God.

We live in a fast paced world, one in which the more we can accomplish in one day, the more productive we feel. However, I want to be as the deer. I want to be focused solely on the Lord and not multitask my time with Him. I want to sit at His feet, and speak with Him without distractions. I desire to read His word and not hear what’s going on around me.

Lord, our God, our Holy Father, we hunger and thirst for You.  Day and night we yearn to sit with You, to speak with You, to be in Your presence.  We long to feel Your consuming Fire, to hear Your whisper, to follow Your beckoning.  The moments we have now are not enough, we want more.  We ache because I crave more time with You. May we make time specifically for You, may we not become distracted, may we not come before You and before our other tasks at the same time. Refresh and revive us, Lord. In Your sweet name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Find a quiet place, turn off your phone, TV, radio…anything which distracts you, lock yourself in your bedroom if you have to…spend some quality quiet time with God, even if it’s just 15 minutes. The more often you purpose yourself to do this, the more you will crave it and make it a priority.

Additional Scriptures: Matthew 6:33; Deuteronomy 4:29; Job 8:5-6; Psalm 63:1

“He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other” (C S Lewis).

Shalom,

Prudence