Focusing Through the Frenzy

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:20

I have a job many people might envy. No one day is ever like another. Every day is filled with crises, activities, meetings, hallway discussions, frantic phone calls, and about 400 emails. Streams of communications come from Europe, India, South America, Canada, all over the United States, and all over our headquarters location. I’m never bored. I never have to complain about not having enough real work to do. It is a very rare day when I experience calm.

It’s a job in which I am constantly “on.” I have to give advice and counsel at a moment’s notice, correct a name in an online article, tweet a response to an issue, quickly fulfill a request on Facebook, and make sure the right people get communications that flow in through the channels we manage. Every day is an upheaval.

With all the frenetic activity, it’s easy to lose sight of why I’m doing this work, or for whom I’m ultimately doing it. I focus on getting it all done. I often forget why. Peter, in his first letter, offers a pointed reminder.

This isn’t about me. It’s not about the frenzy. It’s not about the work or the company.

It’s about where my faith and hope are.

Peter was writing to Christians in upheaval, those who were experiencing persecution in the early days of the church. He reminded them of what the big idea was and what was more important than anything else, including their fears, worries, and even possible deaths.

It was about where their hope and faith was.

Work life, and life in general, is chock full of upheavals. Today we seem to maintain such totally filled and extremely tight schedules that even minor upsets become a major upheaval. Our jobs often demand that we use every available minute, including driving to and from work, to accomplish tasks and “get it all done.”

Peter says stop. Consider what truly matters. And what matters is what’s eternal: the source of the hope and faith, the balm for our souls, and the love that’s in our hearts.

God went through the greatest upheaval of all time to bring that hope to us.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Is your day-to-day work filled with frenzied activity? Does a minor inconvenience become a major upheaval in your day? How easy is it for you to forget the source of your hope and faith, in the day-to-day and hour-to-hour reality of modern work life? What can you do to remind yourself of what matters and what matters eternally?

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, too often I forget what matters. Too often I get caught up in an adrenalin-rush of the demands of the day and the moment, and I forget the eternal. I feel the stresses tearing at the fabric of my soul, and I keep running faster and faster.

Remind me, Lord, of your eternal reality and presence. Help me to hear your voice, especially in the frantic moments. Establish calm in my heart. Give me the certainty to know that even when each day is more of the same, the eternity you offer me is not. Bring my heart home in each moment, Lord; speak your hope to me even as the world crashes around me.

My faith is not in my abilities or skills, Lord; my faith is in you. Always. Amen.

Featured image by elPadawan. Used with Permission. Source via Flickr.