Keep your Eyes on the Prize

  • Amber Rice Miller
  • May 5, 2013
  • 387
                        
Summary: Amber shares how a simple race between her boys turned into a lesson we can all learn from. My oldest son, A.J., is four, and my middle son, Grady, is three. To say they have a lot of energy is, well, an understatement. I had a brilliant idea the other day of a way they could burn off some of that built up energy and exercise their competitive natures. Why not race across our yard? My suggestion fell on ready ears. The race entailed running to the playset, touching it, and coming back to the swing I was sitting on. Now let me explain my boys. Both are tall for their age, but they are built so different. A.J. is long and lean like his daddy, while Grady is more stout (that word makes me think of my Dad because he used to say it about me). A.J. is a natural runner with his long, smooth strides, but Grady has to put more effort into it (he must get that from me also). Not that he is slow, A.J. is just fast. I decided to give Grady a head start to make it more fair. “On your mark, get set, go!” I shouted. A.J. immediately took off, while Grady was slow to get going. I think by the time Grady started running A.J. had already passed him. It was no contest. A.J. won by a landslide. So the next time I gave Grady a very generous lead to start. But this time, he was so focused on A.J. behind him that he lost sight of the target ahead of him. He kept turning around and looking for A.J., and once A.J. caught up to him Grady tried to push him so he couldn’t pass him, all the while failing to run in a straight line, making the distance to the goal a little longer. A.J. won again. Before the next race, I motioned Grady over to have a talk with him. “Listen buddy”, I said, “You can win. Don’t think about A.J. You just run straight to the playset and come straight back. Just do that, and don’t worry about A.J., ok?” I gave an even bigger head start to Grady this time. “He’s going to finally beat A.J.”, I thought to myself. They took off as I yelled go, but Grady seemed to forget all about our little pep talk. Once again, his focus was on A.J. Once again turning around, zig zagging from side to side, not focused on the prize but rather distracted by the obstacle that stood in his way of victory. Once again he lost and was disappointed. Oh how I wanted him to finally win one. I kept thinking how he could have won if he would have just kept his eyes on the prize, instead of the distractions around him. But did I really expect my three year old to understand this concept that we as adults struggle with? We are constantly bombarded with situations, circumstances, and people vying for our attention. It is so easy to focus on those things instead of the One who gives us the power to achieve our victory. Will we keep our eyes and mind on the prize (Jesus), or allow those distractions to keep us from living the abundant life that God has called us to? I believe God is like I was, that loving parent, cheering us on, wanting us to win every race or battle that we come up against. I picture Him saying, “I want you to win. I know the plan of how to. Lay aside every weight, every sin, and every distraction that competes for your attention. Keep your eyes focused on my Son. Then you will win!” (Hebrews 12:1-2, my paraphrase). What race or battle are you in today? Know that God is on your side, and the key to victory is staying focused on Jesus!


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