One summer morning, while camping with my family at Lake Camanche, the kids and I were playing around in the water, floating in the small lake waves, enjoying our time and taking it easy. After relaxing and soaking up the sun, we looked back to the shore to check in on the rest of the family. We scanned the lake up and down, but our campsite and family had vanished.
Confused, we thought maybe something had happened to them. But as we looked down the lake again, we spotted our family way off in the distance. I wondered why they had moved our camp so far down the shoreline. Then it hit me - they had not moved our campsite; we had drifted halfway down the lake without realizing. Unbeknown to us, the current had carried us far away.
It is easy to get off course and mission when we do not recalibrate our faith daily.
“One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.”
Paul Nitze
Have you ever noticed that wherever your eyes are looking is where you begin to drift? I am notorious for this phenomenon, particularly while driving. When I fix my eyes on something other than the road ahead, I stray toward the object I’m observing. Thankfully, my wife quickly reminds me by shouting “Elias!” which I now know is code for “Look out!”
Life is a journey; if we take our eyes off our mission, we will drift. We must keep our “blinders” on, preventing distractions from drawing us in and derailing our purpose.
We find a perfect example of the dangers of distractions in Homer’s classic “The Odyssey.” In this tale, Sirens were island creatures who lured sailors with their music and enchantment. Fixated on the Sirens, the sailors carelessly wrecked their ships on the rocky coast, bringing about their destruction.
We must keep our eyes on the prize and press on in our mission, or we will end up like these sailors whose mission drifted.
“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:25-27
King Solomon knew his purpose when he wrote this Proverb. He was warning us about the dangers of mission drift. If we are not intentional about our purpose, we will become complacent and lose focus. The more distracted we get, the more dissatisfied we will be. Discontentment and discouragement occur when we are not fulfilling our God-given mission because we failed to keep our focus.
Have a blessed week,
Pastor (Rev. Elias Limones)
Comments