First Focus

On a fast track ... holiday season can pull us so easily. Pull us away from our First Focus, and put us in high gear. I felt the racing on the track today ...

Thankful for quiet moments at the end of the day, pausing to remember what is most important. And reminded that even Jesus needed to pull aside and refocus.

"Very early in the morning, while it was till dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place ..." (Mark 1:35) "He needed to have His spiritual supply replenished by continual and lengthy seasons of prayer," Andrew Murray writes in The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer.

First Focus ... the symbols on our Jesse Tree, hanging on the wall here in the family room, reminding me ... even during this busy season. Keep my focus ... on First Love.

The symbols ... a promise of a Branch that will grow from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-2) ... promises all through Scripture, from the very beginning. And after the Fall, God pursuing us ... "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9), always looking, always longing for us to come, to share in His Love. Our Creator ... inviting us, wanting to give us the desires of our heart.

I don't want to miss out this season, in the busyness ... I want to focus on First Love, on Jesus.