Book Notes--Where's Your Focus?

This is the final post from my book notes. Just thought I'd throw that in.

In the story of Peter walking on the water, when he focused on the storm around him, he sank. I've always sort of looked down on Peter because of this, but not any more. I see now how I'm just the same, and how difficult it is to stay focused. But how can you focus on Jesus in the middle of a storm? I mean, the voice of God can be still and small sometimes, but storms have a tendancy to clamor rather loudly for our attention. Storms are hard to ignore, in nature and in life.

Think about a thunderstorm for a moment. There's loud thunder, pelting rain, rapid flashes of lightning, and cutting wind. If you're out in a storm you are gonna be affected by it. It engages all of your senses and demands to be noticed. If you're caught out in a thunderstorm, two words usually come to mind: seek shelter.

Now contrast your experience of the storm once inside your shelter to what I just mentioned. You can still hear the thunder, but it's not quiet as loud. If you stay away from the windows you may not see the lightning at all. You no longer feel the rain or the wind. Yes, shelter is a nice place to be during a storm. In the same way that a house offers us protection from storms in nature, Christ offers us shelter in the storms of life.

But how do we focus on Jesus when there's a storm raging all around us? How do we avail ourselves of this shelter? Ortberg's answer in the book is this: by feeding our minds the right things. We are often way to careless about that to which we expose our minds. Ortberg gives a couple of "laws" of mental focus that I thought were interesting.

1. You are what you think. The way you think determines so much about you.
2. Your mind will think most about what it is exposed to most.

Makes sense to me. The good news is you can put these "laws" to work for you. How to put these to work for you is a whole other topic I suppose, but Ortberg shares a couple of practical suggestions.

1. Meditate on Scripture. Memorize the Word of God.
2. Rituals and symbols. A lot of Christians panic when they hear those words because they fear it indicates legalism and various other things. That's not what Ortberg is talking about though. Rituals and symbols can serve as reminders of the way of life we have committed ourselves too.

My application of this right now is trying to memorize Psalm 84. It's a beautiful passage that pushes my mind, which likes to wander, back in the right direction.

Have you any thoughts on the matter?