Biking, Focus and Acts!

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In my first blog as “Take 5” I wrote about biking and the importance of focus.  Navigating bridges, gates and narrow sections requires focus.  Where your eyes go, your bike will follow. I know this from personal experience after some close encounters with bridges, trees, and fences. A fact I was reminded of yet again as I jumped on my bike after many months of not riding.  I so easily get distracted by the scenery and wander off track. If I eye up a narrow entrance onto the bridge, get nervous about it and my eyes fixate on it – yep, I hit it every time! Ouch! "Just look a little ahead, Kathy, watch what you focus on!" I mutter yet again.

Right now, in the middle of the Covid-19 drama, there are so many competing demands, complex issues and very real human dramas. In crisis how do you lead? We have watched global leaders do well and some, do poorly. How do you determine the important from the urgent, or where to focus and the right way forward?   Even in our own lives, we are often surrounded by problems, deadlines, demands and strident voices competing for our attention. It is so easy to focus on the wrong thing, become distracted and crash! 

I have been reading through Acts 5 and 6. As I read these chapters in Acts, I noticed the apostles experiencing unprecedented circumstances - opportunities, urgent demands, persecutions, an emerging "global movement". Suddenly their world and mine didn’t seem so different. How did they passage it, with so many voices demanding, shouting, crying out for attention and direction - so much human drama? They had no leadership mentors or models to follow, like us, this was new territory. 

But, there in Acts 6:1-7, I caught a glimpse of their strategy – they knew the power of focus.

Instead of being overwhelmed by the demands and the needs, or ignoring them, they sharpened their focus by seeking the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, not only was the immediate problem resolved, the leaders they released and empowered multiplied the effectiveness and fruitfulness of the church beyond their imagination. Their time of prayer enabled them to hear God’s voice, to focus on what God was calling them to do, not what others thought they should do. They re-focused on their unique role, call, function, which included prayer!  Simple really – drawing aside to pray - presenting the matter to God and leaning in to hear His voice was the key to their ability to focus. Just as it is for us.

Here in this passage is the challenge. Faced with multiple needs and voices calling for our attention, can you stop and focus on God?  Can you wait long enough in His presence to discern the answers and the directions for your day, for your work, for your family - for this uncharted season?  

As I know from biking, any time I ride, what I focus on is essential to navigating safely home!  Let’s take the time to seek the Holy Spirit for his direction, his nudge as to what we are to focus on – and then do it!  Who knows what needs will be met, what miracles will be released, what lives we will touched and opportunities we will encounter when our eyes look to Him.

Psalm 123:1-2
I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,



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