Focus

How many of you thought about Heaven this week?

How many of us thought about the day we're going to die?

Now, for some, that might be a rather morbid thought. Especially at my age. I mean, I'm still in my teens. The idea of mortality should be far from my mind. After all, I've barely reached the primacy of my youth! 

But, if we really want to enjoy the life before us, we have to remember the life ahead of us.

As some people say, "The days are long, but the years are short." 

Is that the life we want to live? Days filled to the bursting; full of activities, responsibilities, engagements, jobs, school. The years slip by ever faster while we're left wondering where the last six months went. 

See, thinking about Heaven and our eternal destiny isn't morbid, fanciful, paranoia, or a waste of time. Rather, it's a practical and very reasonable view of life. 

It gives us perspective. 

When you have a destination, each wandering footfall has a new purpose. We're no longer roaming aimlessly, we're headed straight for the light at the edge of the horizon. With that meaning in life, that constant checking of the way ahead, we can adjust and make corrections to the immediate path before us. 

Each moment viewed in light of eternity becomes part of that journey. The question to ask ourselves is, "What is taking our eyes off that path, that destination?"

Whether we're Christian or not, it can be so tempting, so easy just to brush it all off and turn back to wanton dissipation of our time. 

It might not be the things we do, but rather how many of them that we do. Life is so stuffed full of opportunities that we hardly know what to do next. But instead of making a decision, we often just take a little bit of everything and try to cram it onto our plate. 

Life isn't a buffet, it's a five-course banquet. Each new thing is meant to be enjoyed in its own time. You don't mix the cake, beans, soup, and chicken together so you can enjoy them all at once. 

Yet, at least for me, this so often seems to be the state of my life. There are so many different things I want to pursue: Piano, composing, writing, dance, school, etc. It gets to the point that when I'm working on one project, I can't help but think about all the other things I need to be doing. 

Why can't I relax? Why can't I just enjoy the moment before me?

Maybe, I just need to realize the limits I have. I need to understand that I can't do everything. And if I try to do so, I won't be able to do anything.  We're not meant to be split apart with our minds constantly planning ahead for the next task. We're supposed to focus, relax, and enjoy the work that God has given us.

I want to try an experiment and perhaps you should do the same. This week, I want to focus. I'm going to take one aspect of my life and really give it work and time. Perhaps, it'll be music or writing. The next week, I'll try the same thing, focusing on something that I need to work on and make it better.

We all need a purpose in our lives. We've got to remember the path we've been given. Our eternal destiny is meant to be in communion with God and all those with Him.

But you can't do that if you keep forgetting Him. We can't manage this thing called life unless we realize it only comes in finite portions. 

We should live our lives with a sense of urgency because we're living on borrowed time. Someday, we're going to have to render an accounting for all time wasted, good omitted, and slovenliness committed.

Let's not waste this opportunity we've been given. So remember,

Focus.

And give it your best shot.

Real Peace

Have you ever felt rushed? 

Like you're struggling to juggle so many things, that eventually,

you can't catch em all.

Maybe this isn't the case for all of you, but I think it can be pretty prevalent in today's society. We have so many wonderful, amazing, fun opportunities laid out before us, but it seems like we're never really enjoying them. 

The problem lies in when the dream turns into a job and the hobby into a chore. 

We struggle just making the bare minimum on all our commitments, nothing's fun, nothing turns out just right. Even in we're making progress, that's probably because we've dropped a ball already, but just haven't noticed yet. 

We want to simplify. We want to make our lives do a 180 and turn into organized, punctual people, with plenty of time and plenty of peace. And that's a good desire, but maybe we're going about it in the wrong way. 

We often think we need to cut back on all things we do, simplify the number, reduce the equation. But what would happen if we tried to change how we do things, not what we do?

Let's be honest, are we really up over our heads in obligations and responsibilities? We usually tend to say yes, but is that really the case? 

I don't know about you, but I still have time to eat meals without shoveling the food down my throat. I still have time to chat with my family and friends and play the piano. I still have time, apparently, to read the news and check Twitter every 30 mins. 

If we have to time to do all these other things, why don't we for the other ones? Maybe the problem isn't having time, perhaps, it's making time.

There are very few "good" reasons to procrastinate. Yet, we seem all do it. It's too difficult to tackle right now, so we push it off until later, where its difficulty is only compounded, not reduced. Then, we find ourselves hitting walls and deadlines, with no time to spare. We get so stressed out and panicked, that eventually we just need to take a break. That, I think, is why we waste so much time online on innocuously useless things.

We waste our time on them because they help us forget our duties and responsibilities, our tasks and obligations.

They're stress relievers, but not peace givers.

We're almost like alcoholics who drink to forget our problems, but instead, we turn to a digital numbing agent for ours. Eventually, we all have to sober up and turn to the situation, which only becomes worse from the absence.

We need to remember that finding solutions and overcoming our daily obligations is the only way to find peace. Shoving them to the side, ignoring them, or dropping them entirely won't fix the root of the problem.

Just because we have to do something, doesn't mean we shouldn't want to do it. Procrastinating doesn't make us happy. Wasting time isn't fun. It's not, trust me.

At the end of the day, the thing that makes me feel the most peace inside, the most satisfied with that day, is that fact that I actually accomplished something. That I did what was required and expected of me, so that when tomorrow comes,

I'll be ready. 

Never Forget

Today is 9/11. 

While the world may seem a dark place and only seems to grow darker still, this is but an opportunity to rejoice. We're meant to be torches of hope to the world.

Never lose hope.

After all, every flame needs a source; praying to God is like playing with matches.

You might just get burned.

Change the World?

All of us have dreams, don't we?

We all want to excel and succeed in life.

I always seem to be confronted by two incompatible beliefs, one optimistic, the other pessimistic. One tells me to always live my dreams, change the world, set something on fire, believe in myself, and other vaguely encouraging remarks. The second proclaims that you can't change the world, don't waste your time. Pursue your dreams, but only the ones within your reach. Don't go any further unless you have a certainty of success. 

With one, realization of one's dreams is key. Better to try and lose everything, than to be paralyzed by doubt and fear of failure. For the other, it is better never to fail. If you want to succeed in life, then keep the bar low.You'll reach it every time. 

Isn't there a better way? Can't we aim for the highest of heights, but keep our plans practical? Can't the grandest of aspirations be balanced by pragmatic realizations?

We shouldn't hope to change the world, but we shouldn't despair of helping it. The problem is, that's such an overused, cliche, vague phrase. Honestly, what does it even mean? Change the world. Change what about it? Change the global economic structure? Eradicate poverty from every corner of society? Enforce an absolute peace upon the world? 

It's a fool's errand and that's the problem. We try lifting the world, struggle greatly, and eventually we crumble beneath its weight. But on the other side of the spectrum, we see such failures play out before our eyes, weigh the chances, and turn away.  Both paths lead to the same result: Failure. Failure to act or failure to succeed. 

The thing is, we were never meant to change the world. No matter how much you and I try, we just can't. And that might be hard to accept, but it's ok. Why did we become so concerned about the numbers anyway? Was Jesus a failure because He didn't physically heal every person in the world? He only fed five thousand, not five million or five billion. 

He looked at the immediate circumstances of where He was and did something about it. He didn't zoom about on a chariot, healing and feeding entire towns wholesale, as he roared through the countryside, a cloud of dust and disciples trailing after Him. 

Jesus heals persons, not peoples. He's feeds humans, not humanity. His concern focused on the here and now, the people present before Him. Even as He suffered and died to redeem Humanity, He still turned to the man beside Him on the cross and offered him the comfort and hope of Heaven.

The more we become so focused and distracted by the numbers, the easier it is to forget the person standing right before us.

We all have limits, we only can stretch so far. It doesn't matter if we can help one person or a thousand. What matters is that we helped. Each life we touch is priceless. Each life is of unfathomable importance. You can't measure that. You can't determine whether something is a success or not, only by the numbers. 

You've done something good. You changed someone's life for the better. You've probably even changed your own. In the end, it doesn't matter whether you succeeded. It doesn't matter if you failed. What matters is that you tried. 

If only we all did.

That would change the world.