A Dog In The Hunt Don’t Know He Has Fleas!

There’s a story of two boys standing on one side of a freshly snow covered field.  The one boy challenged the other that he could run a straighter path across the field than the other.  Both agreed and the first boy took off.  As he went, he would occasionally look down and back to check his pattern while he ran.  Once there, he looked back only to see a very crooked, jagged line across the field.  The second boy picked a visual target across the field, fixed his eyes and took off.  As he ran, his focus never left its visual target until he made it to the other side.  You know the result – a very direct, straight path!

 Have you ever left your office to go do something seemingly important, only to be distracted by something (phone, email, kids, co-workers, magazine article, newspaper, TV, a bug!) along the way?  Then, after several MORE distractions, you finally arrive back at your desk only to find you never did what you originally set out to do! 

 So what’s your target?  What or who NEEDS your undivided attention? 

• ·       Dinner with your spouse

• ·       Meeting with a client

• ·       An important conversation with an employee

• ·       Playing a game with your daughter

• ·       Reading a devotion

 Sometimes we need to ignore the cell phone, texts, and email notifications, close the door, tell others we’re not to be disturbed, show some assertiveness, say “no”, turn off the TV, fold up the paper and control our ever straying thoughts.

 Fix your focus on what is important at this moment – planned or not - and the distractions will be less visible, less appealing and less destructive.  Be absent in anything but the moment, keep your focus and as scripture says, “Press toward the mark of the prize…”

 Be in the hunt when and with whom it matters, and remember, a dog in the hunt don’t know he has fleas!