My own two feet

I used to wear more types of shoes that required lacing up, but not so much anymore. You'd think that not having laces to come untied and tangled up in your gait would make it less likely that you'd trip yourself, but let me assure you it doesn't take laces to do that! I can trip over air on the sidewalk! Upright one minute and splayed out in the dirt the next! That said, have you ever noticed it isn't all that hard to 'trip up' when it comes to our spiritual walk? The things that manage to 'trip us up' are sometimes not all that 'apparent', such as the untied shoelace flapping about. They are subtle, sometimes not even noticed, and all together as dangerous as can be!

God-friendship is for God-worshipers; They are the ones he confides in. If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet. (Psalm 25:14-15 MSG)

The thing God desires is for our attention to be fixed on him. Now, that said, let me be the first to quickly admit keeping one's attention 'fixed' on anything these days is harder than one might imagine. The eye can be diverted in a million different directions, sometimes without the mind even being aware it has been diverted! Our spiritual walk is riddled with 'untied shoelaces' and 'cracks in the sidewalk'. We trip up a lot, don't we? Or am I the only one with a 'focus problem' here? It seems I go along well for a period of time, then almost imperceptibly I have drifted a little off-center. It is that 'imperceptible' part I think God wants each of us to work on!

The things we cannot see are probably the most dangerous things in our lives. I cannot see a virus, but I have full knowledge of the effect of what that 'unseen' thing can do when given access to my body. I cannot easily see spores drifting on an air current, but I can feel their effect in my lungs and nasal passages when they gain entrance into my body! The things we don't see are oftentimes the things we might not realize are lurking in our midst just waiting for the right opportunity to 'trip us up'. Keeping our eyes on Jesus isn't easy with all these distractions around us, but when we do have him at the center of our focus we probably have no clue how many of these 'unseen things' we have avoided conflict with!

How do we maintain focus? I think the main way is to take very specific time each and every day to just pause for a period of time and sit alone with Jesus. It doesn't have to be hours, but even a small portion of our day dedicated to him is more than enough to help us regather our focus. In fact, the more consistent we become with taking this time out with him, the more we might just see the things that otherwise would be 'hidden' from our view. We begin to see things through his eyes, not just our own. I cannot tell you how many times I have just sat quiet for a couple minutes under the shade of a tree, or in the quiet of my den, only to have him point out something that had been tripping me up all week. The quiet moment allowed him to speak - the quiet moment also allowed me to listen!

Look what we trip over - it is our own feet! That says much, my friends. Tripping up is often blamed on another, but the most common 'trip up' is the one I cause myself. The more I allow God to help me take my focus off of others and allow it to be clearly directed toward my own life, the more I begin to see how the issues I have with another are probably much of my own doing. The quiet moments with God oftentimes yield the greatest results because I stop focusing on everyone else and the focus is back on my own two feet! Just sayin!

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