Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Natural Beauty

At the beginning of April, Gary and I took a wonderful trip out west. We put about 2400 miles on a rental car, several miles on my knee walker, and visited seven national parks during our eight day trip. (That's just how we roll!) Since we couldn't hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon as we had originally planned, we decided to do lots of sightseeing. We came back amazed at the beauty that God has created. There was so much variety among all of the parks: mountains, valleys, canyons, forests, rivers, waterfalls. It was truly amazing. I know that pictures can't even begin to do justice to the awesome displays we saw, but I thought I'd try to share a little of it with you here on Focus Friday. Let's focus on the beauty that God has created here in our great country. If you get a chance, I highly recommend going to see each of these parks (maybe not all in one week, though!)

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

The beginning of the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

 

Zion National Park, Utah

Gary spent some time hiking The Narrows, Zion National Park, UT

Sequoia National Park, California

General Sherman, Sequoia National Park, CA

General Grant, Kings Canyon National Park, CA

Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park, California

Mirror Lake, Yosemite National Park, CA

Upper Yosemite Falls

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. 

                                                                                                                              (Psalm 95:1-7 NIV)

Focus Friday: Magnified Force

This quote from Lysa TerKeurst showed up in my Facebook newsfeed a few days ago and I thought it was just right for this week's Focus Friday:

Wherever we focus our attention the most, that will become the driving force in our lives.

The more I focus on trying to figure out how to please people, the more of a magnified force people-pleasing will become in my life. The more I focus on trying to figure out how to please God, the more of a magnified force He will become in my life.  
                                                              (A Facebook post by author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst)

As a slowly reforming people-pleaser, this resonated with me. Think of the joy, peace, and contentment we could enjoy if we focused more on pleasing God instead of pleasing the people around us.

I think I'll leave it at that for this week. Go back and read Lysa's quote a few more times. Think about it as you go through each day and let God be a "magnified force" in your life.

Are you focused on pleasing people or pleasing God? How would your life look if you let God become a magnified force in your life?