THE OLD MAN AND THE STAIRS……..
“My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life…
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:20-27
I know an elderly man who takes a very long time going up and down the big stone staircase to his New York City apartment. He goes ever so slowly up with his cane, stopping along the way, and he goes ever so slowly down. Sometimes he has a helper. Other times, he’s on his own. He refuses my help, so I figured one day I would simply engage him in a little conversation as I walked by. My mistake.
“I need to stay focused as I’m going down,” he basically explained. “I can’t be distracted.”
I shut my mouth and went on my way. He had been so emphatic about his need to stay focused. He was on a mission, and distraction would not be good.
How often do we allow things to distract us from the Lord and our relationship with Him, from taking the time to read the Bible and pray to Him, from listening for His Spirit who lives inside His followers speaking to our hearts, from praising Him, from simply spending time in His presence, and from serving Him in whatever way He desires?
Are we emphatic about staying focused on the Lord and avoiding distractions? Oh my, I have such a long, long way to go. I love the Lord more than anything and anyone in the universe, He is my first love and highest priority, but I still find myself distracted at times.
Mustn’t we all be more emphatic about staying focused on Jesus?