Proverbs 17:24
Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive, but a fool's eyes roam to the ends of the earth.

My dearest grandpa, affectionately known as Pa has just recently needed to wear hearing-aids. Was chatting to him yesterday about them (they were obviously working) and he was saying that it has really taken some getting used to. They apparently adjust them digitally every couple weeks when he visits the doctor through a computer program to set the right levels and frequencies so he can hear the right noises and sounds.

There is a setting though if he double touches a button on the back of the hearing-aid that allows him to isolate all outside noises in order to help him focus just on the person that is speaking in front of him. If he didn't have this feature all sorts of sounds, depending on the frequency of the sound, is picked up and can be quite grating and obviously distracting.

Got me thinking firstly about how much I should value my ear drums and the ability to hear and listen. Its amazing the simple blessings in life we take for granted.

Was thinking though that we all need this feature in our life.

Giving full focus to the person in front of us at that point of time can be difficult in a world full of many noises vying for our attention.

It seems the invisible people on our phone are more important than the people sitting across from us at the dinner table, in our office, at church, etc.

The person across the room that we could be talking to who holds more status, all of the sudden becomes way more important than the person in front of us.

The outside noise will always be there but we have the ability to put down our phone, shut off from the other potential people we could talk to, the other opportunities and just simply enjoy the conversation of the individual right in front of us.

I'm no better than you on this but what a great church community we could be if we just gave everyone we met our full attention in that moment.

I have found though true focus comes from spending time with Jesus. It clears out the insecurities, distractions and helps me to be about others. Its like the doctor tweaking my Grandpa's hear-aids, fine tuning them to do what they are designed to do.

How much more should we spend time with the Holy Spirit to fine tune our ears to listen to the needs of others and be a blessing wherever we go?

& I pray the thought would not run through our mind..."Your mouth is moving but I can't hear you..."

Let people leave our presence feeling they have been heard, encouraged & helped.

FOCUS.

+jk

CHANGE IS COMING...13/7/11