Focus

I rarely do the grocery shopping in our family and for good reason. I’m a sucker for the deal! The mission is clear from the outset: milk, eggs, maybe bread, but the foyer display of Cheez-Its is calling my name! And the B.O.G.O deal on soft drinks is to good to pass up! I’m so excited to share my great finds upon returning home until I realize that I forgot the eggs.

Life can be that way! We start out with a clear focus or dream, but lesser things pull us in a myriad of directions. As Jim Collins says in Good to Great, “good is the enemy of great.” How profound of a statement is that! There’re so many things that we could do that we lose the dream of what we must do.

There’re several reasons why I often sacrifice the must do for lesser things:

· I’ve neglected taking a step back to clarify what it is I must do. It takes discipline and patience to look inward and evaluate strengths objectively. I often look at the success of others and try to emulate them. While there’s a time and place for learning best practices, God’s not in the business of making carbon copies. Whether it’s an individual, business, or church, those that succeed are those who can best articulate their core identity and play into their unique strengths.

· I’ve gotten overly dependent on the approval of others. There’s something in all of us that longs to be approved by others. Helping others is a part of the Christian life but helping others isn’t always synonymous with accommodating the requests of others. If saying “yes” becomes an addiction, it’s a short path to sacrificing the great thing we must do.

· I’m afraid. A corduroy road was a common term in WWII referring to a path forged through inhospitable terrain. The world is rarely kind to creativity and originality. To minimize risk, it’s far easier to just fall in line; stick to the well-worn paths of others. God doesn’t call us to a life of faith in absence of fear; He calls us to step into our fears by faith.

I believe Ephesians 2:10 completely: we’re hand-crafted by God; created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared ahead of time for us so that we should walk in them. Don’t apologize for strengths. God intentionally designed us with them, and everyone benefits when we’re playing to our strengths. Each of us are created with something that we must do, and it goes beyond vocation. It’s a calling found at the crossroad of passion and need.

What’s the box of Cheez-Its we keep grabbing for? Cheez-Its are good, but could it be the thing that’s taking our focus off what’s great? We live in a world with endless options and a constant window into the lives of others. It’s easier than ever to settle on the good by running after the great in others. But the great exist in us all! It’s the must do infused in us by our creator that makes you the only you that will ever be! How cool is that?!?!