“We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to God’s decree.” Romans 8:28
A professor entered her classroom and asked her students to “prepare for a surprise exam.” After understandable moaning, the students readied their desks, waiting for the exam to be passed out.
The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down, but once all were handed out, she instructed the students: “All right now, turn the papers over.”
Imagine their surprise when they discovered there were no questions–just a black dot in the center of the paper. The questions came quickly.
“What does this mean?”
“What are we supposed to do with this?”
The professor instructed them: “I want y’all to write about what you see there.”
The students shook their heads, but began the task given to them. After thirty minutes, all the exams were completed. The professor began to read them out loud.
All of them defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. Some describe its shape and color, while others went on about its size. When the professor finished reading, she explained,
“Not one of you wrote about the 95% of the paper that was blank. Everyone focused on the dot– and the same thing happens in our lives, doesn’t it? When something darkens our day, or even our lives, it’s natural for us to only focus on that, and to lose sight of the rest. But we need to refocus our vision and stop staring at the darkness in our lives.”
The professor was so right. Sometimes it’s health issues, or lack of money, or maybe a relationship problem. But too often we allow those things to steal our entire focus. In the big picture of our lives, those dark spots are small when compared to everything we have, but they’re too often the very things we allow to overpower our days and our lives.
The test makes us think. “If your life was being graded on what you focus on the most, what grade would you receive?”
Watering the Seeds
When you focus on the “dark spots” of your life how does that affect the rest of your day?
What can you do today to help you focus more on the positive things God has so blessed you with?
