Day 3: A Change of Focus
A Change of Focus | Anna Marie Dandy
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4:6).
Sometimes the things that keep us from being more grateful or more positive come from within us, from our hearts and the words we speak from them.
No one needs to tell you about the world around us. It is full of darkness and every kind of evil. Just look on your phone or tv for a moment and it won’t take long to see. But thank God we do not have to live there! The kingdom of God is at hand, and we can behold its beauty!
If we stay focused on the negative, what inevitably comes out of us reflects that negativity. If we keep our eyes on things above, we reflect the heavenly kingdom. There is beauty around us, and it is not hard to find. We just have to shift our focus. Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
When we take the time to look around with our “spirit eyes,” we can see the beauty around us, in the laughter of a small child, the loving touch of a friend during a time of illness, the bravery of a person standing up for the truth, and oh so much more! When we set our gaze on the noble and true, it changes us, and that change will be reflected in the words that come out of us and our conversation becomes full of His grace. We can be “salty,” speaking the truth in love, but our words come from a place of seeing the beauty in the situation and not only the negative. We can know how to answer anyone because we have spent time with and have seen The One who has the answers.
So, during this Thanksgiving season, I challenge you to ask God to show you the beautiful, noble, and admirable in every situation. Focus on that, and His grace, thanksgiving, and positivity can’t help but flow out of you!
If you’d like to see this more in your life, here is a prayer you can pray…
Lord, I thank You that You are the God over every situation in my life and what is going on in the world, and I thank You that You have given me spiritual eyes to see the things of the kingdom. I ask that You would forgive me for at times only seeing the negative. I choose to shift my focus and to intentionally look for the good, noble, pure, and admirable that is around me and to dwell on those. I ask that You would cleanse my heart and my words of the things of this world, so that Your grace would flow out of me along with thanksgiving. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, in Jesus’ name! Amen!
