The world is full of distractions. Have you ever tried walking through Times Square without craning your neck? Do you pull out your phone for a fifteen second elevator ride just to avoid the quiet?
Every single day, ad campaigns, work, and societal pressures weigh on us, vying for our attention. Most Americans report feeling significant levels of anxiety and despair.
We often look to big moments to change our ways. We want a huge decision, a turning point. But the good life is about the choices we make in each and every moment. Not just the obviously important ones, but every single one.
Proverbs exhorts us to look ahead. To be intentional about where we gaze. Because where we look determines where we go, our steps follow our gaze. When craning your neck at Times Square, you are likely to bump into tourists or start to wander across a street.
When we focus our vision on God, it directs our path. It guides our feet. And where we look is a decision that becomes most difficult on the plains. When we are on the mountains, our success awakens us. When we are in the valleys, our desperation alerts us. In the plains, we are often lulled into a sense of apathy, forgetting to be intentional about where we look and what we do.
Every day is an opportunity to see the Kingdom of God, to focus on it in the midst of all of the distractions and worthless noise competing for our attention. And as our perception (our vision) leads, it invites us into daily, consistent action.