Tune My Heart, Episode 47
- Stacy Bishop
- Jun 19
- 3 min read
Happy Sunday, friend. As you prepare for worship this morning, let’s take a moment of quiet to invite God’s presence into your awareness today.
I don’t know about you, but my schedule has seemed to launch fully into summer chaos this week. Vacations are looming, extra work to get done to be ready for said vacations. My kids are home from school and they’re all going in a few different directions this summer. For a moment the day I’m writing this, I began to feel anxiety creep in. How am I supposed to get all these things done? What if I can’t? I need to XYZ before vacation. I still have to pack. I still need to shop so we have what we need to pack. What if I’m not enough? As the thoughts began to swirl, I stopped and took a deep breath. Feeding into negative thoughts and letting them fester is never the answer. It’s counterproductive and keeps my mind distracted, making me even less capable of getting all the things done.
Pausing for a moment of prayer to ask God to show me what my priorities should be on this day, I was reminded to be where I am. To be fully present with each activity I’m doing, not worrying about the next or bouncing back and forth between projects and never fully giving attention to what’s before me. As a new Christy Nockels song says, “Be where your feet are.”
It’s so easy to go from one thing to the next with a dozen in between that we never fully focus on anything. Sometimes, Sunday morning can be that way, too. Gotta get all the things done to get to sound check. Get through the opener. Get through the first service. Do it all over again. But also—what’s for lunch? What do I have to do the rest of the day? Or maybe I’ll see a face during our music time and suddenly be launched into thought about how they’re doing. Or sent into a more somber mood because I know what that person is going through—maybe even things no one else knows.
And it’s easy to distract my way through an entire morning without real focus on the beholding my King.
I’ve gotten better at this over the years, but the one time I really don’t want to distract myself and not focus on what’s before me is when I’m supposed to be worshipping my Savior. I don’t want a heart that’s divided.
Psalm 86:11 is a prayer of David that says this:
11 Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
This is a prayer that we maybe should commit to memory and use especially before we worship, before we have any quiet time with God, or before we’re going to read the Bible. Our minds are prone to wander, but God can give us the focus that we need.
Beyond just during times of worship, praying about the order of our days and asking God to give us clarity on what’s important can be extremely helpful in having a day that truly feels ordered and as though there is enough time to accomplish what we need to. We can commit our way to Him and trust Him with the outcome.
He is the God who orders our steps and makes our paths straight. We can turn to Him and trust Him with our plans and with our focus and attention. And you may notice, I did so well at this last week that I didn’t even finish this podcast. And the world didn’t stop spinning.
Let’s pray.
Father, we are so thankful that Jesus knows exactly what its like to live on earth with a frail, human mind that is prone to wander and distraction. And we’re so thankful that we know You are in control. God, as we sing today or as we go about our days, would You give us focus for the tasks that are before us. Would You give us focus to behold You in congregational worship and to see Your hand of faithfulness in the rest of our days. Father, we love You. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
A printable/downloadable version of today's episode can be found here:
Comments