{Riding in Cars} Focus for the Path

Remember when you were a kid?  How everything in the world around you seemed larger than life?  Riding your bike through your neighborhood was more than a ride, it was an exploration and riding in the back seat of your car looking through the side windows was almost as fun as watching a movie. Times have changed haven’t they?  My kids hardly ride their bikes because of concern for safety and now when we go on long car rides they watch a movie instead of watching the amazing world going by just right outside their windows.

  As I momentarily returned to childhood gazing out the side window as my husband drove, one thing in particular caught my attention.  The world was out of focus.   It seemed to be just a fast blur of houses, mailboxes, trees and people going by. In fact I had to focus on just one object at a time to see any details of that object before we drove past it. 

  Now compare that same view of the world, that same road with the same houses, mailboxes, trees and people going by but gazing through the front window. When I looked straight ahead it was easy to keep my focus on the world going by.  I had time to see details of objects all at the same time and it felt as if we were moving at a slower speed.  The view I had of my world felt more manageable.  The world was in focus and that focus brought clarity for the path ahead.

  In Proverbs chapter 4, the author gives instructions for wisdom and it’s benefits and it ends the chapter with the following verses, starting in verse 20 ending with verse 27:

My son, pay attention to what I say;

turn your ear to my words.

21 Do not let them out of your sight,

keep them within your heart;

22 for they are life to those who find them

and health to one’s whole body.

23 Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.

24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;

keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;

fix your gaze directly before you.

26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet

and be steadfast in all your ways.

27 Do not turn to the right or the left;

keep your foot from evil. (NIV)

  I highlighted those last few verses because that is exactly the verse that I thought of while riding in the car.  Fixing our gaze directly before us, not turning to the right or the left is wisdom for the paths ahead.

Does the world seem too unmanageable, seeming to pass by too quickly more often than not?  Make a decision today to change your view and share in the comments how that decision has affected your world, whether big or small.