Finding Focus

My kids like to listen to "music" while they study. Note the quotes around the word "music" implies that I hardly consider it music. To me it is much closer to word vomit. I think they call it "rap" or "hip hop."

But here is what I noticed. Back in grade school and middle school, they could memorize just about anything. Now, they seem to only memorize lyrics and one-liners from movies.

On the positive side, I think I'm blessed because by and large, the "music" they listen to is not popular. It has a good message. And they don't repeat any distasteful things (around my ears).

But then we could go to a restaurant and hear a popular song and wouldn't you know, they quietly mouth the lyrics to those ones too.

I suppose the point is that when we want to learn something, we can. For some reason, the same son that can pick an artist and song out faster than Google cannot figure out how to cook to pizzas in the oven at the same time. He tosses his hands in the air and asks a brother to do it claiming it is too much for him to handle.

If we give up easily on making a pizza, how much more scary is it that we give up on our spiritual lives?

Most motivational speakers (secular or christian) will tell you to focus on your spiritual life. As a Christian, I find truth in the Bible. And my concern is that people don't want to read anything spiritual. They give up. It's too hard. Or perhaps the most common, I didn't like what it said.

Look, being lazy to obtain success only works in Office Space. If you want to find truth, you need to work at it and wrestle with it until you understand it.

Here are some truths I've found.

First, it often requires a teacher. Remember Louis Armstrong's words in What a Wonderful World? We know our kids will know more than us because we pour into them and they expand on it. 

As important as the teacher is, the learner must put in the time. 

Tools can be helpful. When I coach soccer, I use many tools to improve footwork, speed and agility, but the most important tool is the ball.

Practice. Malcolm Gladwell suggested 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become exceptional in a given field. When it comes to your spiritual life, how long do you want to wait before you become proficient in your core values and what you believe?

The last thing, ironically, maybe more in the spiritual world than other places is peace and quite. It is interesting in the Christian world they call "devotion time with God" "Quiet Time."

Studies show that noise, even relaxing music, causes tension in your brain because it is processing electrical signals from the ear. Silence on the other hand (lack of noise) relaxes that energy. There is profound benefits to silence and meditation.

In my world, the goal is to fill that silence with prayers for others, wisdom and insight for myself.

John 14