Focus: Directed Attention

 

 

Some mornings I find it difficult to focus. I have routines, but they are ever in flux. I get up and want coffee. But then I think maybe I should go run. I have been thinking of setting office hours, so I can be more focused on writing. I have been blogging five days a week now for three weeks. It is nice to have a rhythm going.

I have been running to get ready for a race that a friend invited me to run with her. It actually includes biking as well, so they call it a biathalon. Talk about needing focus. But I’m not sure if that’s really what I have been after these past few weeks. Sure I have a goal to get ready. So I run or bike every other day, challenging myself to push a little further each time. But the focus is not on the race, as much it is on plodding along and conditioning my body to be ready for the race.

I need both the goal of the race, and the focus of the moment. It’s a strange mix, but it does keep me going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win.  All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.   I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.

1 Corinthians  9:24-27 NLT

Running the Race

Monday Musings

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Acts 20:24 NIV

Earlier this summer I made a decision. I agreed to do a biathlon. I completed a 5K run on my birthday weekend, so my next  step was to do a 5 mile run/22 mile bike race, right? A pretty big jump, but I was up to the challenge. Of course, now as September 16^th draws nearer, I’m not so confident.

With the race being a couple weekends away, I determined that this week, I would continue my training. That means I should be running at least every other day, as well as squeeze in some bike time. Alrighty then, here I go.

Last night I set the alarm for 6:00am, rolled out of bed by 6:15am and was out the door running by 6:30am. It was a good run and as often happens while I run; thoughts churn through my idea generating mind. I mulled over familiar Scriptures, tried to pick up a strain of a praise song. These thoughts are sort of like stream of consciousness prayer.

At one point, I was remembering a phrase from a worship song (I think) that went something like this: “God is God, and I am not.” Good reminder. I started smiling inside. Then this little rift of rhyming phrases ran through my mind as praise to God: “You sustain me, maintain me, retain me and explain me.” I almost giggled out loud. God explains me. That’s a good one. I repeated the phrase to myself, so as to remember it when I came home. These words give me something to chew on and look up definitions for more revelation later.

As I directed my steps around the block one last time, I passed a women walking. On the back of her shirt there was a cross logo and the words “Running the Race,” just the encouragement I needed to power up the last hill towards home and a cool down walk.

 

All praise to the One who sustains, maintains, retains and explains us. Thanks be to God!