Single Minded Focus

Having just ended a week about confession, I must admit that the last several weeks I have been having tremendous difficulty in my Bible reading, blogging, and in doing my housework.  I seem to be drifting from one nonessential activity to another and somehow manage to avoid the things that really need to be accomplished. 

 I have spent too much time messing on the computer while the articles pile up in my inbox for editing, my Bible reading keeps getting skipped, my word document remains empty, my laundry piles up, my floor gets dirtier and dirtier, and on the list goes.  Instead of tackling this mountain of tasks, I remain immobilized by the enormity of all that I need to accomplish.  In a nutshell, I have lost my focus.  Perhaps this is why I loved reading Nehemiah.

In the first two chapters of this book, Nehemiah was serving as the king's cupbearer, but he was greatly distressed by the condition of Jerusalem.  In verse 3 of chapter 2 he laments, "Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?"  Nehemiah didn't allow the scope of the task to overwhelm him, instead he had a goal: "Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach" (Nehemiah 2:17).  He then kicks into action mode and develops what I saw as a single minded focus.

As I was preparing for this post, I discovered that Helene's oldest daughter had also recently finished this book and been impressed by this same trait.  Upon completing this reading she told her mom that her favorite part was "how he wouldn't take no for an answer.  Whatever they threw at him he was like, "Huh!  I'll do it anyway!"

I need to develop this attitude in my life.  It's my goal to be the wife and mother God wants me to be. Often I get overwhelmed and instead of tackling this task head on one brick at a time, I sit immobilized letting myself get further and further from my mission.  I want to stop blaming others for the disrepair of my life and start moving towards my objective of becoming the woman that God wants me to be in my home.  I never want my life to be the "reproach" to God that Nehemiah says the Israelites had become by their inaction.

Please share your reading this week as well as what helps you accomplish your goals.

Next reading: Job 1:1-27:23, Psalms 37:12-41:13, Proverbs 21:25-22:6, I Cor. 14:1-2 Cor. 2:11
  

Jane

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), Copyright(c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission