Focus

I know I haven’t rambled lately, but it’s not due to lack of riding thankfully. There are many times when I ride, that I have thoughts I consider writing about, but I try not to write until that “still small voice” says to. Today I heard the voice say it’s time. No it’s not an audible voice, just a voice in my head and a feeling in my heart that it’s time to share.

Many of my thoughts on recent rides have been related to focus. Some of these rides were alone, and a couple were with my hubby which was wonderful. Focus when I’m riding is key. The road, other vehicles, the weather, and many other variables require constant consideration when riding a bike. You probably wouldn’t think twice about gravel or a stone in the road while you’re in a 4 wheeled vehicle, but on a bike it can be a totally different story. One thing I’ve learned riding horses and my bike, you focus ahead of where you want to go. If there’s a curve in the road, you focus on the middle when you start and where you want to end up by the middle of the curve. You never focus directly in front of you. Where you look, is where you will go. If there’s a stone or object in the road you want to avoid, don’t focus on it. Look beyond it to where you want to end up. If you stare at the stone you’ll end up hitting it, not avoiding it.

Isn’t this true in life as well? Our focus determines the decisions we make. Others can influence our decisions, but ultimately we make our own choices based on where our focus is. I know I’ve made many poor choices, because my focus was in the wrong place. When that happens, I just pray I learn from those choices and that I’ll move on to make better ones. For the most part I believe our focus needs to be on what’s ahead and not where we’ve been or what we’ve done. That being said, we do sometimes need to lack back briefly, in order to look ahead wisely.

On a recent ride with my hubby, he led to begin with then when we got to an intersection closer to home, I told him I needed to fuel up. At that point he told me to lead so I went ahead, even though I actually prefer to follow. As I lead I tried to keep taking a look behind me in the side mirrors to know he was still following. I saw where I planned to get gas and put on my blinker so he’d know where I was stopping. As we approached the gas station, I saw it was super busy so I turned off my blinker and decided to wait until the next station. I didn’t immediately look behind me though and by the time I did, my hubby wasn’t there. He no doubt stopped where I originally had signaled. I stopped at the next station and sent him a note to apologize and tell him where I was. I waited a bit, then realized he most likely just turned and headed home so I did as well. This is an example of why sometimes we do need to look back in order to move ahead the way we want to.

Another example of that happened while riding today. I was entering a road where I needed to merge out into traffic. I glanced in my mirror and saw nothing, but because of this particular location, I knew I also needed to physically turn and look, not rely just on my mirror. As I did that, I saw several cars coming and knew they had no intention of slowing down to allow me to merge, so I came to a complete stop. I waited for them all to go by, then after one more check, I merged out onto the road. Looking back does sometimes serve an important purpose, we just cannot remain focused there. We must glance back, then look ahead and refocus on where we’re going.

My husband and I moved a few years ago and that like everything else required planning. We knew we needed to plan ahead and save some money for this to happen. It meant taking weekend getaways, not weeklong vacations. It meant taking some home cooked food with us and not eating out the entire weekend. We were able to still enjoy time away, but didn’t feel guilty or later regret it due to spending too much.

There are other things we’d like to do one day, which requires planning ahead now so that maybe one day we can. Life is all about choices and focus, from little things like what we eat or drink to major choices like buying a home, planning for retirement, and where we will spend eternity.

Most, if not all, of my poor choices were made because my focus was not on God or what He wanted for me. It was on what I thought I wanted for me. His plans are always so much better than my own.

Focus gets us where we’re going; good or bad, the choice is ours.

Proverbs 12:15

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who seeks counsel is wise.”