“The more I meditate on my problems, the bigger and more insurmountable they seem to be.”

I think it is a natural, i.e. human thing, to focus on what is right in front of me. If in front of me is a mountain, things seem insurmountable.  But I’ve learned to do something when I see a hill in front of me when cycling. As I approach it from a distance, the hill seems huge. It looks ominous. I see it from a distance and it’s easy to go, “Oh man.” That brings with it an “almost” feeling of defeat. But I keep telling myself as I get closer and as I start to climb these words: “The only people who have ever climbed this have all done it the same way-one pedal stroke at a time.” Because of my physical structure (height and weight) and age, I’m a slow climber. I will never set a land speed record climbing. But the way I see it- it isn’t how fast I climb that matters; it’s whether I complete the climb.

I can focus on the hill or I can focus on the crest. One pedal stroke at a time. It depends on my focus. Life is the same way. I can choose to focus on my problems, or I can choose to focus on the God who helps me through them. As the psalmist said, “…I meditate on all you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land…Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust…Teach me to do your will for you are my God!”

“And that is my prayer this morning, Father. I can’t add to more of what the psalmist said.  My prayer is to focus on You. Let me thoughts be captured by You, not my problems.”