Focused

These past two weeks, I have been on a college campus, in a small, bare dorm room working on my final classes for my master's degree.  I am either sleeping, eating, going to class, taking a break or doing classwork.  I have had little time for anything else.  My family spent the same amount of time, moving everything we own out of one house and into another.

I know what they are doing and they know what I am doing, but we are not in each other's worlds right now.  They couldn't handle my schedule and I couldn't handle theirs.  We are focused on the task in front of us.  There is nothing wrong with either of our situations. It simply is.

We have those seasons in our lives that require most of our energy and attention.  We know the season won't last forever, but we also know that if it did, we wouldn't last that long.  We know we can maintain for the season and when the season changes we will be thankful that it changed and thankful that we made it.

One of those seasons I can think of is having small children.  When they are infants, it takes all of our energy and attention to care for them.  We feel like we have much less of ourselves.  Eventually, they start helping by feeding themselves and walking.  Before we know it they start helping us not just themselves.

Another season is education.  Finishing high school or finishing college can begin to take the last microbes of energy out of a person.  They have been working hard for so long and that last stretch seems like it may never end.

There are also seasons of pain and hardship.  When my husband and I were first married, we had very little money.  We were blessed each day with everything we needed, but sometimes it came at the last minute and we weren't sure how we would pay the power bill, but we did.  We knew things wouldn't be like that forever, but sometimes, in the midst of those tough days, we wanted to quit.  We wanted to charge it all and forget being responsible. But we didn't.  Sometimes you want to quit.

But you don't.

You don't quit because you know the season will end and a new one will come.  If you don't know that, I am telling you now.  This difficult season will end.  Dig deep, know you are not alone, don't give up the fight.  Maintain your character and your hope and your diligence in getting up and finishing the job set before you each day.  That difficult season will end.  You will breathe, you will get rest. You will see how much you've grown.  Another season will come and you won't be taken out by that one either because it will only be for a little while.  Stay focused on your task.  Stay focused on what is important.  You are strong and will only get stronger for making it through tough seasons in your life.