Focus on your heart

It’s hard to have focus when there are so many distractions in the world. One of the biggest distractions I face is my thoughts. Very quickly I can go to thinking about what I’m making for dinner tonight to already planning out my conversation with a friend later this afternoon to possibly seeing that guy and then I’ll go back to dinner plans and then back to this post. There is a reason women’s brains are like spaghetti, we can go from one thing to the next and next. That is absolutely true, but we also need to maintain focus. Focus is more than just what you have your eyes on, it’s what is  at the center of your life.

Saying Jesus Christ is at the center of what I do and say, would be great, but distractions come in.

Distractions can steal everything from you if you are not careful. That is why I believe  Solomon charges us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). Our hearts can become tangled in distractions, things that take our focus off of Jesus. If I’m honest my heart has been tangled in distraction for the past couple months, my eyes are looking out, not up., I have had the mindset,

If I see him again, I’ll be able to carry on.  

If that is my mindset, I am looking around not focusing. I looked up the word focus in a few different dictionaries. Websters defines it focus as,

“A central point of attraction, attentive, activity.”

I like that definition. The central point of our lives should be Jesus Christ, but distractions can vie for our attention.

That is why it is important for us to put a Guard on our heart. Someone who can protect it from all the distractions that can entangle our hearts. When our hearts are healthy everything else will fall into place. Maybe the reason I haven’t seen this guy is because my heart is focused on the happiness, he could bring me. That is too much of a weight to put on another human being. Happiness changes depending on what is happening around you. My level of happiness changes in a blink of an eye; can I say if I saw this guy my happiness meter would go through the roof.

True happiness is found when we let God have his way in our hearts and minds.

“Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you.”-Psalm 86:4 NLT

Our ambitions, dreams and hopes need to all center around the cross of Jesus. Our focus should be Him, not the people around us. We were created to please God, not people (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NLT).

Our focus (centers) and eyes need to be on Jesus if we are going to get through  the day.

^“ We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joyawaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”-Hebrews 12:2

That verse is a memory verse I need to revisit.

Stay strong, stay healthy,

MH

Stones Under Rushing water

For me writing is like heart surgery. God opens my heart and words spill on the page. In the words of Ernest Hemingway,
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit at the typewriter and bleed.”
That being the case, its hard for me to write when my family is around. To write my heart bleeds all the words, it’s not easy for me to be open for that when they are around. When God comes into my writing zone, I can be susceptible to ugly crying or anger. COVID-19, bless you, has forced me to stay on the property my house sits on with my family. I am beyond stir crazy; I’ve had ENOUGH family time. I find myself alone today and inwardly rejoicing; my heart can bleed all the words and I won’t try to bandage it.  The topic of today’s post is going to be peace.
What is the first thing that pops in your mind when you read the word PEACE? Leave a comment and let me know.
For me I think of a river. To be more specific, I am taken aback to fifth grade Sunday school. My teacher had a picture of a river on the bulletin board. I think there was a verse on the river, I can’t remember exactly what verse, I just  remember how peaceful that river looked. A river is always moving. In this world we can get wrapped up in the moving part, but we also need to remember what it is like to sit on the bank of a river.
Relaxing
Serenity
Peaceful
All words I would use to describe sitting on the bank of a river. I love to sit and listen to a river move and I especially love when there are rock in the river, the sound the river makes as the water runs over the rocks. Now imagine if we are the rocks in the river. God’s peace needs to run over us and need to make a beautiful sound. Stones under rushing water. A river runs wherever God tells it to go, so His peace runs with us wherever we go. Whatever house or situation we walk into, God’s peace follows us there. These days its hard to remember that a peace that passes all understanding follows us everywhere. If we are in Christ Jesus that peace is ours for the taking.
“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we  can understand…”-Philippians 4:7
One of my favorite hymns, It Is Well With My Soul is the driving force behind this post. The first stanza says,
“When peace like a river attendth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say
It is well with my soul.”
The second line of the first stanza, says,
“When sorrows like sea billows roll…”
Another word for billows is waves. Have you ever sat on the shore and watched the waves? They come one after the other. Sorrow is like that. There is no rhyme or reason for all the sorrow. God will take that pain and use it for good (Genesis 50:20)
The peace God provides is nothing the world can give. It’s a peace overflowing, one that is always available, just ask Him.

“Thou has taught me to say
It is well with my soul.”