Focus

Each time I find someone at the top of their game, they possess an attribute that is shared with others at the top of their profession.  It is the ability to focus.  This is not a casual, balanced, or measured way of focusing.  This is the ability to focus on a singular moment for an extended period to the exclusion of everything else!  Everything in this case includes physical needs such as eating or resting, relationships, or anything that is not directly a priority to the moment at hand.  I am not suggesting that the best have balanced lives.  Quite to the contrary, most do not.  I would not recommend that they are models that we should blindly emulate.  Many do not share the values and priorities I hold to be most important.  I am gently observing that in one particular area, focus, they have embraced life in a way that I should consider.
As I reflect on great musicians, leaders, and elders across generations, I find the same ability to focus present in every situation.  In a moment where life was pivoting, “he ate nothing, drank nothing.”  (Acts 9.9/Saul)  In an extended period where his example meant everything, he lived a life with yet apart from others.  (Gandhi)  Examples can be found in every generation across a wide range of situations.
My point is this.  Far too often, I catch myself struggling with a wandering mind.  It is as if I cannot focus and be in the moment at hand.  It could be a time of resting and being.  Equally likely, it could be a critical decision or simply an opportunity to share a conversation with someone needing to talk.  In each case, God invites me to be present in the moment that is.  It is more than casually present, fully.  It is more than a maybe, maybe not kind a presence, it is complete.  To the max, everything solely focused on the moment that is.
Today comes with options and opportunities.  God offers to walk with us nurturing, supporting, and guiding our journey.  Focus.