Keeping Your Life Focused

I was 6 years old when my father and I were out on Houghton Lake, Michigan and I asked if I could steer the boat back to the dock.  Dad and I exchanged seats---he came up front and I sat sideways in the back seat.  I grabbed the motor arm, moved it a little to get the feel of the boat and off we went.  The only problem...I was distracted by the fish we had caught that were wiggling in the bottom of the boat.  Then the vibration of the motor--a steady hum--caught my ear.  Then a speedboat went by.  I had kept the motor steady and straight.  I hadn't moved it a speck.  But dad finally pointed out we were just going in one big circle.  He told me to keep my eye on the big tree next to the dock, then to make adjustments to the motor, thereby keeping us on course.  It was only then that we made it back to shore. 

Do you want to live the life Jesus wants for you?  Then keep your eye on the big tree ahead, the one on which Jesus hung and not on all those things the devil would use to distract us and keep us going in circles.  Of course, we need to wrestle things through, make decisions, set directions and goals, honestly confront one another, ... but if we focus on the noise around us or on what we are doing, rather than on what God has done and is doing in and through us, we will go in circles.  But when we keep our focus on Him and His will for us, we are empowered to love each other and reach the lost.