Endurance Through Focus

So tonight I was on ‘snack’ duty with the kids, and I made the mistake of giving Elijah a small glass to eat peanuts out of before he sat down at the table. Naturally, (since I am making a post about it), he dropped the glass and it shattered into pieces. To which he cried out immediately,

Oh Daddy, my peanuts, I need some more peanuts!

I thought it was hilarious, because the glass shattering took me back a bit. But not Elijah. It was as if nothing happened to the glass. He was too focused on his peanuts.

This reminded me of the time when Abigail was writing on the concrete with chalk by my in-laws’ pool. She fell in to the bottom. Erin was right there so she reached down quick and pulled her right out, only to have Abigail cry out with tears, “Oh Mommy, my chalk, my chalk!” (For it had gotten all wet and may have still been at the bottom of the pool.)

I’m not sure what to attribute this kind of thing to. I suppose it could be some sort of weirdness my kids got from me. But it is interesting that in both instances, my kids were concerned about the thing they were most focused on prior to their ‘surprise.’ In Abby’s case, she slipped into the pool because she was so focused on her chalk. And Elijah, well, naturally he was focused on his peanuts.

At the very least, this leads me to believe that we are wise to focus on realities that will enable us to endure any amount of difficulty. For when our day of difficulty comes, our focus will determine our response. Of course, we should probably at least be aware of the difficulty. That is, we shouldn’t be like Elijah and keep crying over our peanuts without even mentioning the broken glass (he did this for real).

From a Christian perspective, the promises in the Word of God serve as a wise focus. For they will enable us to endure any sort of difficulty that comes our way. Provided we focus on those promises consistently before that day of difficulty comes. That is a definitely worth taking note of.

By the way, if you have any other ideas on the chalk or peanut focus phenomenon, I am all ears.