unFOCUSED

We have all heard the term, fake it until you make it.

Well what happens if you have faked it for so long and suddenly, you cannot take it, any longer.

What happens when you have turned your cheek so many times that you made a full circle and now you are back where you started.

Face to face, head on with someone who is focused on all the wrong things. 

Whose focus is unhealthy and even hurtful at times.

A person, who does not slow down to listen and truly love.

But keeps racing to a nonexistent finish line.

You want to say, this is not a race.

This is not a competition.

You smile at the people that will not be there for you.

You hold on to anger with the ones that will.

You keep a scorecard.

Yet, you are the only one in the race.  

Keep running.

Race to your make believe finish line, but when you get there can’t you see that you will be alone?

Are hundreds cheering for you on the sidelines better than the dozen that would have run alongside you, loving you?

However, you say nothing and so they go on.

They keep running ahead, trying to finish first.

You want to say, it is okay to stop and start over.

You can have a life with possibility and promise.

Yet, you focus on circumstance and opposition.

When you fake the enthusiasm and rehearse your words, do you know who you are fooling?

Only yourself.

God sees our hearts and he knows.

In fact, everyone sees, but no one says a thing.

You do not want the truth.

You want to hear the cheers on the sidelines.

You want people to scream your name as you look for the finish line.

But friend, I tell you that those cheers are from people who say only what you want to hear and not what you need to hear.

Real relationships are not like that.

Real friends love you enough to "keep it real" and honest.

It is ironic.

You think you are protecting yourself, but really, you are doing quite the opposite.

You are holding yourself back from living in the now.

You can see what is going on around you, but you cannot enjoy it, because you are stuck.

You are focused on winning and not on living.

You are focused on the race and not on His grace.

You are focused on anger and not on love.

On the outside it appears that you run with your arms open, but I know that you hold it all in, trying to shield your heart.

Much like a bird that keeps flying into the patio door.

You are so determined to get there first, that you forget to look around.

You are stuck with a great big obstacle in the way.

Will you ever look up?

I wonder when you get to the end of the road will God be standing there saying, “What happened?

Did you forget to read the signs along the way?

While you were racing, you missed the blessings I sent to you.

While you were running you stepped on the people that would have given you their hand if you fell, their drink if you were thirsty and carried you if you could no longer go on.

If you had taken the time to read the words that I placed before you, you would have seen that somewhere along the way you took a wrong turn.

If you turn around and go back, I am sure they will be there waiting for you.

It's okay to start over.

It's okay to change.

It's okay to be unFOCUSED.