Have you ever thought about the fact that the word “focus” ends in “us?” When difficult circumstances come into our lives, it’s so easy to focus on “us,” to dwell on the negative things rather than the blessings God’s supplied.
Yeah, guilty as charged—and I suspect I’m not the only one.
I was reminded of that this week. I have a health problem that causes ear issues, lightheadedness, fatigue and weakness. I had the worst flare-up that I’d experienced in more than a year, and it’s hung around like overnight guests who outstay their welcome. I’ll be honest with you, I’d been feeling a little bit sorry for myself.
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And then God sent some eye-opening experiences to me. I had lunch with a precious friend whose arthritis is so bad that it’s too painful for her to cut her food. I cried on the way home as it dawned on me that I’d never thanked God for the use of my hands.
A friend posted on Facebook about her beloved daddy who has had some serious eye issues. He has to take his hand and hold his eye open to be able to see. Oh my, sweet friends, we take so much for granted! And I realized I’d never thanked God for eyes that open and close on their own.
Another friend is undergoing treatment for cancer. She’d give a lot to have the bad hair day I just had. It hit me that I’ve never thanked God for the gift of bad hair days before, but I’m thanking Him now.
And I realized something important: Once we take the focus off us—it’s much easier to remove our attention from our problems and to see how truly blessed we are.
Let’s put our focus back where it needs to be:
1) God
Thank Him for His faithfulness, for being our strength during hard times, for being our provider when our finances are falling apart, and for being our comforter when our hearts are breaking. Yes, even in the hard times, God is so good!
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2) Others
Look for opportunities to bless our loved ones and strangers. When we’re busy helping other people, we don’t have time to focus on our own problems.
3) Blessings
It’s hard to get discouraged when we are busy counting our blessings. Today would be a good time to ask God to show us the things that we sometimes take for granted.
We’ll never mess up by taking our focus off of us and putting it back on Him.
