Out of Focus

Life has been crazier than usual the last few months. I thrive on a full schedule and actually find myself more productive when I have a full plate of responsibilities. I like having to plan out in advance how to get everything accomplished. However the last few weeks have been a bit too much even for me. In addition to "regular" life tasks, I have taken on two additional projects at work, started attending a summer Bible study, taken two out of town trips, jogged in my first "race", helped my oldest son with financial and logistical details on moving out of state to go to school in two months, had stepdaughter and future son-in-law up to visit for the weekend, as well as planning and scheduling a variety of other summer events and activities. It seemed like the speed on the treadmill of life got turned up from 5.0 (where I am pretty comfortable) to a 7.0, and it has left me a bit breathless and tired.

I found myself getting progressively more depleted and wasn't even looking forward to seeing my stepdaughter - whom I really enjoy - because all I could think of was the cleaning, re-arranging of bedrooms, grocery shopping and cooking that needed to be done. I found myself so consumed with what "had to be done" each day that everything in my life was just a bit out of focus ("Just missing the focal point on a little bit of everything").

During a moment of pause during prayer time at Bible study I had some divinely inspired clarity. As my stress level had risen I realized that I had moved aside some things that were pretty important:

1. Time with God: two minutes of devotional reading and a distracted prayer while eating toast does not really focus you for the day.
2. Exercise: the running shoes sat in the back of the closet and the dogs were staring longingly at their unused leashes.
3. Healthy foods: traveling stresses all my good eating intentions and I seem to think that the calories in the big bag of licorice don't count if I eat them at 30,000 feet.

Human nature is so contrary - we should WANT to do these things that make us feel good in our body and soul, but I tend to be stubborn and often want the easy way out (TV, Facebook and cookies sometimes seems like a lot less work than scripture, jogging and green leafy vegetables). Also, once I get out of my routine - even for a few days - it is hard to resume.

However, last week, after my moment of pause at Bible study, I realized how out of focus life was becoming and made the conscious choice to put these three elements back into my life. While there have still been TV, Facebook and cookie moments, I have also spent time listening for God's direction, made lots of healthy smoothies and gotten the running shoes out of the closet.

Even though the pace of life will not be slowing down anytime soon, I see that these nourishing practices bring me encouragement and peace and allow me to experience life "in focus."