Last week we
broke boards in class. I gave an
abbreviated version of this devotional beforehand. As I did, I realized how much I needed to be
reminded of it.
Board Breaks
Breaking a
board requires concentration. It
requires focus. But your concentration
and focus are not on the board itself, rather they are on the far side of the
board. A strike that ends at the board
will do nothing. You must go through the
board in order to break it.
I remember
the first time I ever broke a board. It
was my 2nd test ever in karate, and I had finally begun to be able
to focus on what I was doing and tune out everything else. I was standing in the gym with Sensei. He was holding the board and as he coached me
my focus narrowed down into a very tight little circle around us. He told me to focus on his chest. Don’t even look at the board, bring my knee
up to his chest. I breathed and
concentrated and focused, brought my knee up with a loud kiai, and heard the
board break. I never even felt it. But there it was, in 2 pieces. I was shocked.
Our
Christian life is like that. We are
surrounded by problems and pain, but to get through those problems we have to
look past them. They will overwhelm us if we focus on the problems themselves,
but if we look past them and focus on God, we will suddenly find ourselves out
on the other side, standing in amazement because we never even felt them come
apart to let us pass.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 - 16Therefore
we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Paul is
writing this, and those light and momentary troubles he is talking about were
huge. He was stoned and beaten, arrested
and imprisoned, even shipwrecked. But he
fixed his eyes on God and on eternity, and he made it through.
Don’t focus
on your problems, focus on God. One day
those problems will part like a broken board, and you will find yourself
standing in peace on the other side.
©Rebecca A
Givens, 07/05/10
continued
As I said, I heard these words coming out of my mouth and
realized God was speaking to me much more than I was speaking to my
students. In just a few weeks’ time I had gone from trusting God in
uncertain times, to physical blessings, to becoming distracted once again by
the trials of the moment. I was staring
at the board, unable to break through it.
I was
reminded in church on Sunday that God has this.
He is holding the board, He is holding all my problems. He is holding the schedule, the money, the
time, the divorce, the cars, my kids, the future, every single concern I have,
big and small. I just need to look at
Him instead of the board.
Forgive me Lord.
Be my focus.
Hold me.
Give me the will to wait, to trust, to hope, to obey.
Keep my eyes on You.
Because only You can give me this blessing, I cannot manage it on my
own.
©Rebecca A Givens, 05/25/15
