This One Thing

It is dif­fi­cult to stick with a life theme. From day one, we face a life of dis­trac­tions. Stay­ing focused is the sem­i­nar theme that is always pop­u­lar. It is cen­tral to the Sun­day morn­ing wor­ship expe­ri­ence as well. List-makers abound!

Philosopher/Theologian, Paul Tillich, said that no mat­ter how we make our pri­or­ity list, it is the sec­ond thing on the list we will most likely accomplish. When asked to list life goals, peo­ple gen­er­ally put “Serv­ing God” at the top of the list. That is noble. What actu­ally hap­pens is what is listed second.

Maybe it is because serv­ing God is a state­ment that is too gen­eral or not well defined. If the list is made with some spir­i­tual dis­cern­ment, the entire list may be lesser points ded­i­cated to the first - and thus be totally in keep­ing with the will of God. Few of us can boast of a list like that. To be hon­est, we have to admit that we all lose our way.

Get­ting back on track always leads me to look for what I call: “This one thing.” It is some choice or action made some­where in the day that res­onates all through my soul as being on track. It is what makes me feel like my day was worth it. It is an action that is not always found by look­ing for it. It is found by pon­der­ing the great scheme of things. More than likely, you have to find it in the clut­ter of dis­trac­tions. The calmer you are, the quicker you find it.