Focus

Set aside anything that distracts me from you, Lord.

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Read

Psalm 119:9-16 (NRSV)

How can young people keep their way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
do not let me stray from your commandments.
I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes.
With my lips I declare
all the ordinances of your mouth.
I delight in the way of your decrees
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts,
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.

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Reflect

One thing that I have learned in my work as a therapist is that people don’t get what they want; they get what they do. If ambition and intensity of desire were enough, change would be easy. What really produces different outcomes are different processes. For example, if your marriage is distant, your “process” might be too little positive time together. Therefore, if you want more closeness, you would have to spend more time doing things that lead to connection. If we want change, especially major change, we need to examine the processes.

Psalm 119 reinforces this idea. The psalmist says over and over that he or she wants to stay centered on God’s word. The psalmist wants to delight, meditate, and be fixed upon God’s decrees, precepts, and ways. What do you suppose would become of a person who set that process in place? Not only would he or she come to know cognitively what God reveals, but he or she would reap the benefits of living it: wisdom, peace, power, strength, etc. Sounds pretty good! So, shall we change some processes?

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Pray

Lord God, we have some big problems—elephants too big to eat all at once: addictions, habits and conundrums; grant us the faith to take one bite at a time. In your wisdom you have ordained time for us to learn to walk with and depend on you. Forgive us for trying to do it all at once and all on our own. Show us your better way. Amen.

May the Lord begin a new process in you that brings about more peace, love, and wholeness in you and in others.