Earlier this week, I was looking out over a small lake. On the other side of the lake, a pair of street lights were illuminating a walking path. They were not very tall, and yet, they cast some big reflections across the water. As I took in those reflections, the light seemed to dance a little and one of the lights formed the shape of a cross. When I shifted my gaze to the other light, it looked like a tornado of swirling lights. I sat there for a while and watched the lights. From time to time, the cross shaped one appeared less defined and more like Jesus walking on the water… the other one remained a tornado of swirling lights.

At several points, the tornado light went out leaving only the one looking like Jesus visible. It was amazing how much brighter the "Jesus" light looked when it was the only one on the water and how much easier it was to focus on it without the competing light. What if we could keep that singular focus amid the swirling tornados of day to day life… a focus that allows us to gracefully run this marathon of life.

"…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…" Hebrews 12:1-3