When Chaos Causes Me to Lose Focus

What do we do when chaos causes us to lose our focus?

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 NLT

I wrote it in my new planner, the one with all the space for goals, plans, and action steps.

I jotted it down on my desk calendar at work.

I scribbled it next to a little circle on my to-do list notepad.

And I still forgot to bring the ‘thank you’ card to work for my co-worker this week.

Actually, that’s not exactly accurate. When I got home from work on Friday, I found it tucked in the side of my bag. The card did make it to work, I just never took it out of my bag to give it to her. The task didn’t get done. (So much for the satisfaction of drawing a checkmark next to the item on my list.)

As a result, frustration came in like an overpowering wave. How could I be so forgetful?

How do we go from chaos to focus?

We’ve been in a busier-than-usual season at our house. The list of things that must get done keeps growing, and I find myself putting off everything until the weekend. There’s just one problem with scheduling everything on Saturday.

 Saturday comes, and I’m too tired to tackle the list.

 So another week passes, and next Saturday’s list is even longer. And so on. And so on.

In those times, I feel like chaos has taken over. My mind struggles to focus on just one thing, much less a never-ending list of things that have to be done this week. It’s hard to feel content when chaos surrounds us, but God gives encouraging direction in the story of David giving instruction to Solomon regarding building the temple.

David wanted to build a temple to hold the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. But David wasn’t the man for the job. (To read more about that, visit a post I wrote for Encouragement for Today here.)

When God chose Solomon to complete the job, David shared this with his son as he commissioned him to begin the work God called him to do.

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan an thought.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 NLT 

As God’s children, we are commissioned and called to worship and serve Him. In this verse, we learn a valuable detail concerning these things. We are to worship and serve with a whole heart and a willing mind.

When I keep my whole heart and a willing mind, set on God, contentment will outshine the chaos.

Lord, I give you my whole heart and a willing mind.  

David continues on from there with a reminder that God knows our thoughts and plans. And thankfully, His plans for us are better than our own.

Can I admit something to you? This morning when I woke up and turned on my tablet to read my Bible app, I noticed something. In the midst of a chaotic week, I’d rushed through my morning routine and hadn’t finished a single day’s reading. Not. Even. One.

So I guess you could say I didn’t offer my whole heart or a willing mind this week. I forged my own plans. I let chaos rule instead of seeking contentment.

But David’s inspiring speech to Solomon gives us hope today. Putting God first in our hearts and minds will keep us focused on things that matter.

Has all the chaos going on in your world caused you to lose focus?

Let David’s words from Scripture renew your peace today. Begin fresh with a whole heart and willing mind Then allow yourself to just be as you sense unsurpassed contentment and regain focus.

When Being Busy Makes You Feel Valued

I love feeling needed. It brings a sense of purpose when my son asks for advice or when my husband gushes compliments over the dinner I cooked. 

But what happens when no one asks for my help?

The older my kids get, the less useful I feel. Does that mean I have no value? Absolutely not! Our identity comes from our merciful Savior. God defines who we are through his love. 

How Wanting to Be Needed Affects Our Identity 

God gave each of us unique gifts and talents. He also offers opportunities for us to use those gifts to serve the world around us. When we put our skills into action, we can laser-focus on that purpose. But we need to be careful of only thinking we have value when others need us. 

Let’s face it. Serving others makes us feel all warm inside. Especially when we’re helping our family or friends. It’s easy to mistake those feelings of fulfillment for something else. 

This happens when we let our good works determine our worth.

The Danger of Attaching My Value to My Busyness 

It’s in our nature as Type-A women to want to be helpful. So often we see someone struggling and know with a little effort, we can get the job done. We may even step in when God asked us to wait. (I for one have a hard time resisting the urge to help God!)

As much as we love doing good works, God is much more interested in His work in us. 

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV) 

The above verse reminds us that even though God created us for good works, our worth is found in who we are through Him. When we remain in that truth, our good works will shine with the goodness of Christ. 

Whatever is causing you to feel less needed today, my go-getter friend, God knows. He wants us to help others, but He also wants us to know our worth is based on who He is, not what we do. So when our kids, families, or friends don’t need our help, we won’t feel like no one values us. 

We can fight off the fear of not being needed by reminding ourselves of our identity as children of God.

With all that’s going on in the world, we may be struggling with knowing how and when to help. Here is a prayer that will help us discern how to help when we don’t know what to do next. Check out the video prayer below.

A portion of this devotion is an excerpt from an article by Kristine Brown, “What Is Scripture’s Answer to the Fear of Missing Out?” originally published on iBelieve.com.