Keep Your Eyes Always on the LORD
The other day as I was walking from my car to my classroom, my arms were full—purse, backpack with laptop, bag full of tissue boxes, my breakfast, a drink, my building and classroom keys, a card a friend handed to me on my way in—but I was barely able to hold onto these items, and it was not as if I were loaded down with a bunch of unnecessary items; they were all things I should have been able to carry in one trip but as I was struggling to hold onto all of the stuff, I had the sudden realization, “I’m not handling this load well.”
With great difficulty I tried to hold everything together, but it was becoming clearer and clearer that I was about to lose my grip on the things I was carrying. It had crossed my mind to stop and set everything down and readjust to make the load more manageable, but I was a little too stubborn and it was a little too cold that morning, and I kept going all the way to my classroom doing the juggling act.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I entered my classroom and the things in my arms toppled from my grip onto my desk. But I started to think (you know…the kind of thinking that leads to reflecting and you’re pretty sure it’s Lord guiding your thoughts wanting you to have a takeaway” from your experience). As I began to consider the situation, I realized that I had handled it poorly.
#1 I had been in a hurry when I grabbed all of the items from my car. I had not picked them up in a way that was best for handling. #2 At any point I could have stopped and readjusted the load, setting things down and reconfiguring. #3 Though the load was a lot, it was not too much to bear, but it was too much of my focus.
This made me speculate how many times I have thought about obligations and responsibilities and been concerned that “it’s all too much”, feeling like I’m on the verge of “dropping the ball” so to speak, when sometimes it’s actually not that at all. I’m just not handling what the Lord has entrusted me with properly.
And it’s not that I need to start getting rid of a bunch of things, but perhaps it is necessary to set them down for a moment, collect my thoughts, re-center on the Lord, and then pick up my load again, wisely readjusting what He has entrusted to me so that my focus is back on Him and not on what I’m carrying.
In order to do that, I have to stop and pause the scrambling about. Actually take a moment to slow down, breath, and seek Him, remembering that it is HE who gives me strength to bear burdens: “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” I Chronicles 16:10,11
I need to have a conversation with Him about what I’m struggling to juggle and carry (Paul gives a formula for this in Philippians 4:6,7), and I need to put my trust in Him (Proverbs 3:5,6), putting my eyes back on Him and making HIM my focus, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8
Today, if you are struggling to balance everything, perhaps it’s not that you are carrying too much, but maybe it’s that the load and the focus need to be readjusted. Don’t be afraid to stop for a moment, recalibrate, and seek the Lord.
Katie Botello
FBC Aztec Member