Teach Children to Focus

            Parents, teachers, and other responsible adults can help children and teenagers to prepare for the real world by teaching them to focus on what is important at the moment. Whether the young person is in the classroom, on the soccer field or on basketball court, they need to focus on what they are doing at the moment. This is especially true when driving a car!

            When my daughter first started playing basketball, she focused on how fast she could run to the other end of the gym rather than on where the ball was and how to stop it. She later became a high school basketball star because she learned to focus on what was important.

            When another daughter first started playing soccer, she was told to stay in her position, so she planted her feet and stayed right there. She soon learned that her position moved up and down the field, and she could control the ball better if she stayed in her position and was ready to take it. She was later the Gatorade player of the year as well as a collegiate star player because she learned to focus not only on her position but to take advantage when the ball came to her.

            Two years ago I started taking college classes once again. I looked at the list of assignments due the first week and almost cried. I just knew that I would not be able to complete all of them. A thought came into my mind that I could complete the assignments if I would focus on them one at a time. I focused on the first assignment due, completed it, and moved to the next one. By focusing on one assignment at a time, I was able to complete all requirements each week and finished with A’s. It was a simple matter of focusing on the moment and not worrying about other assignments.

            I find it easy to lose my focus in real life. The world around us is spinning faster and faster each day, and I often let my thoughts get caught up in the spin. I spend way too much time on Facebook and checking the news and fail to focus on the matters that I can control. Instead of starting my day with prayer and scripture study, I am anxious to find out what is happening in the world.

            The same is true with my daily tasks. When I focus my thoughts and energy on a definite task – rather than floating from job to job – I can actually see accomplishments. The same is true of relationships. I must focus my attention on my relationships with my husband, other family members, and friends, or the relationships – the only things that I can take with me to the next life - get lost among all the tasks that I think are so important. I find that I am easily distracted from the important things in life by things that are merely interesting.

            I found an interesting article today about how Satan uses distraction – the opposite of focus – to keep us from doing the important things in life. The author mentioned that the devil does not really care if we are serial killers or just too lazy to pray and study the scriptures. He wins in either case because we put distance between Jesus Christ and ourselves. For those who are not too lazy, Satan uses distraction.

            The author says that Satan distracts us with concerns about our bodies – gray hair, crooked teeth, too many sags, and on and on – and causes us to have low self-esteem and no self-confidence. She says that Satan also distracts us from doing the important things with our families. This includes keeping ourselves or our children so involved in other activities that we have no time for family prayer, family scripture study, or family home evening. The third area she discusses is that Satan keeps our minds so distracted by politics and other negative things that our minds are not receptive to revelation from Heavenly Father.

            It is a good article. I hope that you will follow this link to read it. Maybe you will recognize ways that Satan is distracting you and causing you to lose your focus on the important matters of life. I know that we can strengthen ourselves as well as our family, community, and nation by learning how to focus on the important matters of life and letting the other problems pass by and out of our lives.