Let
me start this article with a story. Earlier today I was at my Church. Service
was long over and I had just gotten back from hanging out with some friends. I
often spend my Sunday afternoons in the Costa Mesa area to avoid spending money
on gas driving back and forth to Orange. Since my Church is still unlocked,
I’ll stop by for the sake of having somewhere to go. Anyways, today I was
sitting close to a room where another Church was meeting. They had finished
service and everyone was hanging around talking and spending time together.
Where I was at, I could hear a group of kids running around and laughing. Let’s
just say it was VERY loud, but not an annoying loud… It was essentially a
constant combination of screaming, running, laughing, giggling, and other
“child” noises. I don’t even think the kids were organized enough to play tag;
they were simply running away from each other and hiding. I could tell they were having an absolute
blast and it put a smile on my face. I began recalling memories of my own
childhood. Hours and hours spent with the simplest games that became
unbelievably entertaining. Heck, all you had to do was give my best friend and
I a couple fake guns (or simply sticks that looked a little bit like guns) and
we could entertain ourselves for days on end!
While I was sitting there thinking, it
struck me how amazing that was. Such a simple thing could bring so much joy and
entertainment and at the same time completely envelop the child’s focus for
hours. It was so simple and yet so profound. I tend to look at situations like
that and think, “man, those were the good old days.” Back when I had no
worries, no concerns; just a simple focus on what was happening in the here and
now.
I have a tendency to distance myself
from those ‘good old days’ by thinking that I now have ‘grown up’ things to
deal with. My life is so much more complex and I don’t have the novelty of
fixating myself on ‘simple’ things. Those days are over... But then it hit me… We
still live (for the most part) like those children. When something comes up in
life, whether big or small, nerve-wracking or peaceful, difficult or enjoyable,
what do we do? We fixate on that one thing! We either stress about it to no
end, or find all our enjoyment in it. Why do we get so caught up in and fixated
on things? I don’t know, I guess it’s in our nature to find something to focus
on. Maybe it’s a person, maybe a life event, maybe certain circumstances. There
are all kinds of things that steal away our focus. So what can we learn from
the children?
First, we can (hopefully) clearly
see that we tend to get fixated on one thing in life. As I said above, whatever
is prevalent in life becomes our focus point. You might be thinking this sounds
like a curse. Who wants to get caught up in and fixated on the things that so
often steal our focus? However, I think this is something God put in us. In
Scripture, we are often called to have childlike faith. What better to steal
our focus than Christ. Imagine if we were as contented in fixing our eyes on
Christ as a child is with fixing their eyes on whatever is at hand. Think about
the joy and peace that would come from a life entirely focused on Christ. Why
do we so often get focused on meaningless things in our lives when we know that
we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. All the
other details and circumstances of life begin to either fade or become signposts
that point us back to Christ. No matter where you are at, no matter what you
are facing, no matter what hardships or joyous occasions you are in the midst
of, I encourage you to fully envelop yourself in your relationship with Christ.
As you focus on Him, the other details of life will begin to fade in comparison
and you will find a peace that surpasses all understanding. This peace and joy
can only come from the simple (and sole) focus of childlike faith.
