The Pickle on Your Pants

HOW TO KEEP YOUR FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS

You may have heard me tell this story before, but I believe it bears repeating. It's all about focus, or what we're looking at in our daily lives, and I think it's something we all need to be reminded of - I know I do!

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a man who pulled into a fast food drive-up window to get a hamburger. He began to eat the burger right away, but just as he was pulling back out on the street, he took a bite, and a pickle squirted out of the burger and landed-plop!-right on his pant leg (don't you hate it when that happens?!).

He looked down, trying to grab that pickle before it soaked into his pants. But as he happened to glance up, suddenly his heart was in his throat. He saw that he had veered over into oncoming traffic, and a semi truck was bearing down on him!

Adrenaline pumping, he grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and jerked his car back over into his lane. It shook him up so badly that he had to pull over, and that's when he heard the Lord speak to his heart: "Son, keep your eyes on the windshield, and don't focus on the pickle on your pants."

He knew right away that it was a metaphor for life. There will always be "pickles on our pants"...little things that happen everyday that clamor to grab all our attention and keep it off the things that really matter. Maybe it's the dog tracking in dirt, or someone not putting things away, or your co-workers being grumpy, or being stuck in traffic. If you've got your eyes out the windshield, focusing on where you're going in life these things can flow off you like water off a duck's back. If you're focusing on the negative, or letting little irritations consume you, it's easy to get discouraged and throw down your faith.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

There will always be challenges that want to get our focus off what's important. It happened to Peter when he was walking on the water-the moment he took his eyes off the Lord, he started to sink.

We want to keep our eyes out the "windshield"-focused ahead on the Lord, and the goals that He has put in our hearts, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

Notice that Jesus endured the suffering of the cross by keeping His eyes on the "joy set before Him." There is joy set before you-focus on it! Don't let the pickles on your pants take all your attention. As one author says, "Don't sweat the small stuff!"

One way I've found to keep my focus on the right thing in the middle of a "pickle on the pants" moment is to ask myself, "Will this matter in 10 years? 10 months? 10 days? 10 hours?" If you answer no to any but the first one, it's not worth focusing a lot of attention on! Yes, take care of things as they come up, but in the meantime, don't take your eyes off the windshield...keep your focus on the things that really matter!