Are You OVERWHELMED or Are You DISTRACTED?

I recently had to get glasses for my two-year-old. While getting her vision checked, her eyes would quickly veer apart. As the technician was trying to get her to stay focused on the target as it moved, she couldn’t keep her eyes focused, causing them to go in separate directions. As I was thinking about that, God reminded me of how often His people lose their focus along the way. He’s given us a target to focus on, a purpose, a vision, and yet we veer in the opposite direction. For some of us, we become distracted. For some, we feel overwhelmed at the things of life and can’t focus. Distractions could be social media, news, gossip, tv, people or things that prohibit us from being productive. Being overwhelmed are times when you’re trying to maintain multiple projects and priorities, and in the end, we can’t focus on any of them because we feel “overwhelmed with life.” It is through these distractions or feelings of being overwhelmed that we allow temptations in life to sweep us away, therefore forgetting and not focusing on what our true purpose in life should be, and moving towards that. Our goal should be to remove distractions and move towards determination to do God’s purpose. To be quite honest, some of us have lost FOCUS.

But God reminded me about some things. I’ve had moments in my life where I felt “overwhelmed.” We forget that we’re one person and are trying to the work of multiple people. Sometimes, overwhelming feelings result in being forgetful, having anxiety, being pessimistic because we’re overcome with worries and responsibilities, and can lead to us making more mistakes than normal. During those moments of feeling like I’m being “swept away,” God reminds me that He’s present and that He’s my rock. He reminds me of His presence and that prayer helps to calm my overwhelming feelings. God reminds me of the priorities He has for me. Talking to God gives me the strength that I need, and helps me to focus and prioritize. Also talking to God reminds me of what I should learn how to say “no,” to, if that task veers from the purpose God has for my life.

But there have also been times when God reminds me of how much time and resources I’ve wasted when I lose focus. For me, when I’m overwhelmed, I can’t concentrate. My mind wanders. I become easily distracted. And therefore, by the end of the day, I still feel overwhelmed as I haven’t accomplished the things that I had. He reminds me that sometimes my feelings of being overwhelmed aren’t because He hasn’t given me sufficient time and resources, but sometimes it’s because I’ve squandered the time and become distracted. I look at my phone and see how I’ve idled away at things that aren’t important, that waste my time or the hours staring at a television screen. I am reminded that I need to sustain focus. Sometimes that results in putting down the phone, turning off the television, holding off certain conversations, and keeping my eyes and my time on what the focus should be.

While I truly believe in balance, and that every day and every moment shouldn’t be focused on “work,” I do believe as a society that we’ve lost focus on what’s truly important with our time. As we mature into our business and personal lives, let’s be in tune with our priorities and work better on our focus. Don’t let us get swept away with idling and being distracted, causing more feelings of being overwhelmed. Pray and ask that God gives you a sustainable FOCUS in all areas of your life.