Fine-Tuning Our Focus

From mid-June until now, I've been focused on VBS kiddos, then I hopped right into focus on 4-legged kiddos at my children’s place then to my 2-legged grand-kiddos at my home, back to focus on my children in Austin, and now back home to the two 4-legged furry kiddos of my Frisco family while they’re away. Whew! FOCUS – can sometimes be draining. Being responsible for the care and well-being of others and focusing on their needs keeps us from focusing on our own needs. I get it. We love focusing on our loved ones…..because, well…..we love them. We are wholly devoted to them. But, giving our full attention to something, somethings, and “someones” means taking the FOCUS off of ourselves.

Why is ME-focus important? I refer again to Jesus’ words in establishing “FOCUS” priorities: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39. Focus priorities look like this: Love God. Love yourself. Love others. The fact is – unless we care about WHO is most important, we can never love others to the capacity that God intended for us. We become better parents, employers, employees, friends, neighbors and leaders when our FOCUS starts with God and ourselves. So, I’ll admit I’m ready for some God and me-focus.

I have some friends who have asked me for some one-on-one time. I have had to put them off while I was focused on the care of others. And, now, before I can give them the quality and Spirit-led counsel they need – I MUST focus on “loving the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind” which means spending time with Him to get me loving me enough to love them enough to give them Godly wisdom for their lives.

I loved having those special times caring for others. It feels my “love tank” so full. I’ve heard of week-long get-away places where people will go to a health and fitness boot camp to FOCUS on a road to lifestyle and body transformation. Then there are couple boot camps where they go to FOCUS on each other to revitalize and renew their love and marriage. It’s important to stop the struggles and wandering and wondering to FOCUS on what’s most important in our lives.

So, now, I’m back to my little world of God and me – I get to FOCUS on what and WHO keeps me stable, unshakable, and centered. My relationship with God. With all the distractions that we are consumed by, can we possibly imagine how much God wants one-on-one “you and me” time with us – where He is the center of our attention? And when He’s the center of our attention, our FOCUS is fine-tuned on what’s good and lovely and the question about whether we do what He wants or not is easy because we will focus on what He focuses on.

This is fine-tuned FOCUS: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3). By fine-tuning our focus, we’ll always “focus on God first” Who is near to us, strengthens us, and gives us wisdom and Godly perspective to persevere through life. That FOCUS will help us focus on everything and everyone else with His perspective, His love, and His wisdom.

Hebrews 12:2 -- “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith….”

Intimacy "In-To-Me-See"

INTIMACY: close familiarity or friendship; closeness, rapport, warmth, affectionate

Those words that describe INTIMACY are from the dictionary, but I embrace this meaning: being INTIMATE means “In-to-Me-See”. It’s a blending of our heart with another’s so we can “see into” who they really are, and they can “see into” us.

Experiencing true INTIMACY begins with being connected to our own heart which is directly connected to God’s heart when we open our heart to Him. Because God made us, He intimately knows us better than anyone else can. He sees inside us and knows who we really are. Sees “into” us. For this reason, He can make us feel known in a way that no one on earth is able; and in this we can experience intimacy in an indescribable way. Intimacy with God through His Son Jesus has been the most rewarding and life-changing thing I have ever experienced.

This month of February is known as “The Love Month”. The greatest commandment is this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind" (Matthew 22:37). So simple, so important, so transforming. This is the one thing God most desires. I’m so grateful that God loves us and that He keeps working on us. How DO we go from "believing in God" to REALLY falling in love with Him – being INTIMATE with Him? Since He “sees into” me and knows me – so much so that He knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:20), how much more should I crave to “see into” God’s heart and grow my heart of love for Him.

Here's how my INTIMACY with God grows:
1) I think about Him. That's one of the easiest things to do because everywhere we look -- He is there. The more I think about Him, acknowledge His presence in my life, recognize Him in EVERYTHING -- people, nature, circumstances, etc., the more deeply I fall in love with Him. I think about how amazing He is as my Creator and how selfless He is as my Savior. I contemplate how incredible it is that the God of the universe cares about me – is INTIMATE with me.

2) I tell Him I love Him and why I love Him.

3) I spend time in His presence. No INTIMATE relationship can grow without time spent together. The same is true with our relationship with God. When I determined long ago to set aside specific time with Him to pray, share, express gratitude to Him, then my love for Him started increasing.

4) I endeavor to do everything out of love for Him -- from serving at my church and volunteering, to my everyday tasks and chores. When I choose to do a task out of love for God, my love for Him grows and our INTIMACY grows.

We can all work at loving God more. I know I’m still walking out my faith journey, but I'm on assignment to urge others to fall in love with God, too – to become INTIMATE with Him. It’s one of the most important trademarks of a Christian -- to help others learn to love Him with all their hearts. And the best way to teach others is to model OUR love for God.

My prayer is that you will experience the joy that comes from an intimate relationship with God and that out of that love you have experienced with Him, that you will find INTIMACY with a special someone who is also in an intimate relationship with God. No doubt, with that priority -- true INTIMACY will be found with each other and the load of walking this earth will become a little lighter and so much brighter.

Falling in Love with God

Day 6 of the Month of Love -- Falling in Love with God
A service technician was at my home a few days ago and in conversation, I invited him to my church. His response was "Oh, no thank you, Mam. Don't get me wrong -- I believe in God -- I just don't go to church." Our conversation moved to his telling me about his 7-year old son and how much he loves him, and how much his son loves him. He showed me a tattoo on his arm that had his son's name engraved on it. He said he explained to his son "I love you so much that I put your name on my arm. You are always on my mind." You know where I'm going with this. I was able to talk a little more about God's love for him and how God even has his name written in the palm of His hand. I'm believing that I planted some little seeds in his life -- and God will woo him to Himself.

The greatest commandment is this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind" (Matthew 22:37). So simple, so important, so transforming. This is the one thing God most desires. I’m so grateful that God loves us and that He keeps working on us. Maybe it was part of God's plan for that technician to come to my house so that this little lady could be "a laborer in his pathway". (Matthew 9:37,38)

How DO we go from "believing in God" to REALLY falling in love with Him?

Here's how my love for God grows......
1) I think about Him. For me, loving God is one of the easiest things to do because, after all, everywhere we look -- He is there. The more I think about Him, acknowledge His presence in my life, recognize Him in EVERYTHING -- people, nature, circumstances, etc., the more deeply I fall in love with Him. I think about how amazing He is as Creator, how selfless He is as a Savior. I think about how good He is to me. I think about specific blessings He has given me and all He has saved me from. I contemplate how incredible it is that the God of the universe cares about me.

2) I tell Him I love Him. When I tell God I love Him, I find the words are very true. It's even more powerful when I tell him why I love Him.

3) I spend time in His presence. No relationship can grow without time spent together. The same is true with our relationship with God. When I determined to set aside specific time for prayer, my love for Him started increasing. I also listen to music that helps to focus my attention on Him and helps me worship and love Him more. (I wrote about this in my posts over the last couple of days.)

4) I endeavor to do everything out of love for Him. From my church ministry, Life Group, volunteering, to my everyday tasks and chores, my motives make all the difference. When I choose to do a task out of love for God, my love for Him grows. It’s a mental task of consciously giving the activity to God as an offering. Maybe this is part of what He means by when He says, “Love God with all your mind.”

We can all work at loving God more. I know I’m still living out my faith journey, but I'm on assignment to urge others (like my service technician) to fall in love with God, too. It’s one of the most important trademarks of a Christian -- to help others learn to love Him with all their hearts. And the best way to teach others is to model OUR love for God.

To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances.
To seek Him is the greatest of all adventures.
To find Him is the greatest of all achievements.

Lord, I'm Keeping My Eyes On You

Day 272 of Photo Inspirations -- Lord, I'm Keeping My Eyes On You
I’m home from Seattle, but now on an amazing retreat – no electronics allowed, so my FB posts had to be pre-scheduled.  Hopefully, this one posted for today.

I loved having special one-on-one time with my two youngest grandsons over the last week.  Since we’re only able to see each other every couple of months or so, I often wonder if they’ve grown out of me yet.  You know – the cuddling, hand-holding, games playing, kisses, hugs, telling stories, etc.  But, thankfully, not yet.   At ages 8 and 11, they’re still so lovey dovey and precious.  They still love to cuddle while we watch a movie on TV and have the “usual” -- chocolate shakes and popcorn.
 
Bryson (the 8-year old) is especially tender-hearted and wants undivided attention.  He’ll get right in my face so I completely focus on him.  He wants to be the central focus.

That makes me think about our relationship with God.  It’s so easy to be distracted from focusing on Him – the phone, TV, computer, people, our needs and wants, etc.  Can we possibly imagine how much He wants one-on-one cuddle time with us – where He is the center of our attention?  And when He’s the center of our attention, we focus on what’s good and lovely and the question about whether we do what He wants or not  is easy because we will focus on what He focuses on.

Matthew 22:37 “Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”