Contact Me

If you enjoy my blog and would like to contact me, you may reach me at this email: dena.netherton@gmail.com

Some of my stories are published in:
A Cup of Comfort Devotional for Mothers and Daughters (Adams Media, 2009)
Chicken Soup: What I Learned from the Dog (2009)
Love is a Flame (Bethany House, 2010)
Extraordinary answers to Prayer (Guideposts, 2010)
Love is a Verb (Bethany House, 2011)
Big Dreams from Small Spaces (Group Publishing, 2012)

Monday, November 26, 2012

Refocus and Really See

My daughter and I went to the San Diego Zoo about a year ago.
My favorite viewing place is the big cats, especially the lions.
There was a gorgeous lion who seemed to be enjoying all the gawkers.
I'm not sure if he was enjoying the attention from all of us, or simply planning his next meal.
I got a great shot of him through the rope fencing with my digital camera.
When I loaded the picture onto my computer and it came onto my large screen, I was surprised by the effect.
The fence, which looks like a rope cyclone fence is in the foreground.
For a minute, my eyes focus only on that, and the lion behind the fence seems to be just a blur of light brown.
Then my eyes adjust to the background and I see the lion.
He startles me every time.

I wonder if we tend to view life like that, too.
Do we focus only on the immediate things in our life? The rope fences?
Do we see only the urgent things that need to be done?
 the meals to be prepared, the errands to be run, the bills to be paid, the workload sitting on our desks?

 The "fence" is valuable.
But it is the lion that we came to view.
He is what we will remember after we have returned home. 

Can we allow our "eyes" to refocus...
On the larger picture?
  • The meaning of our lives in the light of eternity.
  • The larger goal of our child-rearing. Not just the immediate need to frantically chauffeur our children from one activity to another each day.
  • The timeless quality of our relationships—not just for the pleasure (or the work) of the here and now— but for heaven's sake.
  • That God is near, very near, and waits for us to stop and enter His presence, so that we might touch eternity and view the universe from His perspective.
Stop from time to time and think about the events of your day.
Not just the routines.
But the significance of each event, each conversation.
Refocus.
See the lion behind the fence.

"For we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18 NIV Bible)


5 comments:

  1. Excellent blog. Paul's advice to the Corinthians is difficult to follow. But, we must.

    Ed

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  2. Dena, a timely challenge. TKS for another inspiring post! :)

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  3. Thanks Ed. I appreciate your comment.

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  4. I hope you send this to a devotional publisher, Dena! It's a wonderful example of focusing on what's important.

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