The Dangers of Focus

I'm very future-focused. Very. I have been since I was in my early teens. 

I consider being future-focused to be a wonderful quality. Honestly, I count it as one of my strong points. I believe it's good to plan ahead and begin preparing for the future. That's how we get ambitions and goals and aspirations. 

But two days ago as I contemplated this quality I have, I realized that being so focused on the future may not necessarily always be a good thing. 

I realized that there are two dangerous things that future-focused individuals need to be guard for. 

The first is balance. Being focused on the future is a good thing. But there needs to be a balance between living in the future and living in the present. If we aren't careful, it's easy to become so preoccupied looking ahead that we forget to look around us where we are. It's easy to forget to live in the here and now and to enjoy the gift of every day and of the season we're in at the present. There needs to be balance. 

And the second is flexibility. For those of us that are future-focused, we have a distinct idea of how our lives should unfold. We have them planned. We have a timing for everything to happen. We have a place for everything to fit in. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 

But I know from experience in my own life that sometimes we can become too focused on those future plans and become too rigid in them. God loves surprises. He's brought about events in my life that I never expected at times when I never expected change. And in being so future-focused, I found it incredibly difficult to accept that God's plan for my life veered from the detailed plan I had. 

When we become too rigid in our plans or too future-focused, I've realized that sometimes we don't take as many chances or risks. Chances that maybe we should take. Chances that are part of God's plans instead. 

If we're too rigid and focused on the plans we've made for our future, I've learned that we might miss opportunities and people that God brings into our life as part of His plans for us. We might miss them simply because maybe they aren't exactly what we had planned, maybe they didn't come the way we had expected, or maybe they didn't come when we had planned for them to. Because they simply don't fit into the plans we've made for our future. Because we aren't willing to be flexible and take some chances and conform our plans to His when they prove to be different from each other. 

As the quote goes from the Anne of Green Gables movie: "What is to be, will be, Rachel," says Marilla. "And what isn't to be, sometimes happens," Rachel Lynde reminds her.

There's truth to that. While it's easy to say "What's meant to be will be if it's God's will," we sometimes forget the ingredient of free will. God doesn't make us do anything. People and opportunities don't a always wait around forever until the time comes when you had planned for them to fit into your future. God will always have a Plan B for you- He works all things for the good of those who love Him- but if we aren't flexible and open to His intervention in our future plans and to His curveballs, we might miss what He had originally intended for us.