“Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Take heed to the path of your feet,
then all your ways will be sure.” –Proverbs 4:25-26
My time in seminary was a rewarding, yet a highly demanding experience. I attended seminary at the Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. While in seminary my family and I lived in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma where we served, not one, but two churches. Between family, work, school, and travel my to-do-list stayed full. With all of these things in front of me I spent the first part of seminary feeling completely overwhelmed.
As I look back on that demanding time I remember one commitment that helped me be successful. As I started the second year of seminary, I committed to focusing on one thing at a time. There may have been several papers due, books to read, bulletins to prepare for worship, but I realized I could only do them well and keep my sanity if I gave my full attention to one thing at a time.
We live in world where so many things compete for our attention. We are increasingly becoming a people who believe that multi-tasking is the only way to function. Of the many great lessons I learned in my time in seminary, perhaps the most important one is that multi-tasking only creates more stress and less focus in my life. I have found that if I fix my eyes on one task at a time, I will accomplish more and be able to offer more of myself to the tasks that are before me.
I want to encourage you to choose the one thing that needs to be accomplished now and give it your full attention. When we concentrate our full attentiveness on the task in front of us, we are capable of doing more than we can imagine.
Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
