Where Is My Focus?

When I took this picture I was just snapping away. It wasn't until later that I realized my phone decided to focus on the leaves and rain drops in the background. But I actually like it better because I find the greens to be brilliant and the rain drops striking.

Sometimes what's hiding in the background deserves our attention the most.

I'm learning that I've spent too much time focusing on the wrong things. I should have been asking,

"Who is hurting?"

"What needs do they have?"

"How can I help?"

 Instead I focused on myself. I looked out at the world and asked,

 "Do you like me?"

"Do you want to be my friend?"

"Am I good enough?" 

And then I judged myself as insufficient- not beautiful enough, strong enough, smart enough, well-spoken enough- and the list goes on and on. But honestly over the years I come to realize that the people I meet don't care what I look like. They just want to know if I see them, really see them.

Over the past few years, because of circumstances in my life, I haven't been serving at my church the way I always had before. And I've felt guilty even though I knew I was exactly where God wanted me to be, even though the time I freed up from church service was used to minister in different ways, and even though I've grown closer to God than ever before. I was focusing on what I imagined others expected of me, and not on how God wanted to use me.  What I've found is that God is opening my eyes to people and situations I never had the time to pay attention to before. It's liberating to see that I can be used by God in new and exciting ways.

So what's in the background that you need to be focusing on?