Focus

Matthew 14:22-33


I enrolled my daughter in a gymnastics class when she was two. There was a point in class when kids were allowed to have free play and could play on any piece of equipment they chose. Children scattered to swing on the uneven bars, jump on the pommel horse and tumble on the mat. My daughter, however, would always gravitate towards the balance beam. Each week, she’d approach the beam cautiously. She wanted to get on the beam but she struggled with the fear of falling off.

Initially, she’d get on the beam and ask me to hold both of her hands as she walked. The first few times, she only made it halfway across the beam before asking me to take her down. But with some practice, she eventually made it across. Once she’d mastered walking across with me holding her hands, I felt it was time for her to master walking across alone. My daughter was terrified. It took a lot of convincing to get her to let go of my hands so I could walk to the other side of the beam. Once on the beam alone, she slowly shuffled her feet, making her way to the other side. Standing at the other end of the beam, I locked eyes with her and encouraged her to keep moving. I held out my arms and let her know she could do it. Things went well for the first five steps.

And then she looked down.

She took her eyes away from mine and looked at the floor. She was only one foot off the floor but I’m sure that felt like 50 feet to a 2 year old. Immediately she panicked, yelling, “Help me Mommy; I’m up here all alone!”

“No,” I told her, “I’m here with you. You just need to look up and see my face.” I encouraged her.

Slowly, she raised her head and looked at me. She was still shaking in fear but as I cheered her on, she was able to make it across and jump into my arms to celebrate.

As I reflect on that day, I am reminded of Matthew 14:22-33 when Peter walks on the water with Jesus. As long as he focused on Christ, Peter walked on water with no problem. But once he looked at the circumstances around him (the wind and the waves on the water), he began to sink and called out to the Lord for help.

Like Peter, there are times when we focus on our problems instead of focusing on our Savior. This can be a dangerous trap. Getting caught up in external circumstances will turn the focus away from Christ, which can cause us to sink below our problems instead of overcoming them. And the Bible tells us we will overcome this world as children of God (1 John 5:4)!

So what in your life are you focusing on instead of Christ? What is causing you to sink below your problems instead of overcoming them? I encourage you to turn your eyes above, focus on Christ and watch how your perspective changes your position.