All on the Field: A Good Soldier—Having Focus - Wednesday
Hebrews 12:1a
…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. (NLT)
If my bride is tossing and turning at night, having trouble sleeping, odds are she’s making a list in her head. All the details, the to-do list, calls to make, tasks to accomplish. We’ve got such busy lives with so much to accomplish. And the busy nature of our days seems to come chasing us down sometimes, doesn’t it?
Did you know our brains love accomplishing a task? There is a release of dopamine when checking a box off a list. This neurotransmitter serves as an internal reward-center. We experience an exhilarating feeling, a jolt of energy which then serves to produce a desire to accomplish even more—so much so that I’ve known people who made lists of things they’d already accomplished that day (eat breakfast, drop kids off at school, go to work), or even things they would do as a matter of course on any given day (brush teeth, make bed, eat, breathe) just to be able to put a checkmark in the box next to it!
Sure, it’s silly when you think about it. And while it can be helpful to attend to the minutiae, down to the tiniest of details, sometimes getting down into the weeds too deeply can become counterproductive. The wisest people I know seem to start with the big picture, the view from 50,000 feet—and then drill down as needed. It’s kind of like admiring an impressionist painting. If you get too close, it begins to get fuzzy and can even look messy. But as you draw back a bit, the whole picture starts to come into focus.
What does this look like in our lives? The word that comes to my mind is perspective. We pause, back up, and ask God to help us see what He’s doing or hear what He’s saying. We get wisdom from people who are ahead of us on the journey. It was one of these people who helped me with focus. He suggested starting with a different kind of list: a stop-doing list.
When used on a semi-regular basis, a stop-doing list can help us cut away the dead stuff that needs to be pruned from our life. Love that feeling you get when you check a box off the list? Maybe it’s time to evaluate your to-do lists to determine whether you’re chasing the right things. Ask God for help removing the stuff that is slowing you down—especially the sin—and get ready to run freely and lightly, with God leading you.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Would a stop-doing list benefit your life? Do you need permission to cut some things away so you can focus on the most important things? Pray for wisdom and for God to lead you through the pruning process ahead. May your life be refreshed as you throw off the things holding you back… especially the sin that slows us down more than anything else.
