Last night, our bible study group studied the video clip about noise. In the modern time, there are all kinds of noise everywhere all the time: TV, radio, cars passing by, kids yelling, and even the billboards along the highway (that is visual noise). We are so easily get distracted and lose focus. We are also missing quiet time when we can calm our heart, clear our thoughs, so that we can hear God's voice better.

Noise becomes noise only when it draws our attention, i.e. distracts us. There is noise all the time, but we don't notice it all the time, because we don't always get distracted. Therefore, what matters is not the noise itself, but the distraction it causes. Our focus is like a balloon. Noise is like the wind blowing by. The wind can blow the balloon away, but only if you don't hold it tight. Even if there is no wind, if you let go your balloon, it will still fly away. When we are distracted and lose our focus, we should not blame it all to the noise. It is more of our fault that we don't hold our focus tight enough. So trying to block the noise may help, but what can really solve the problem is to hold tight our focus.

We all know it is not easy to hold our focus tight. But do we notice that when we do things we truely love, like watching your favorite movie or watching the Packers beating the Vikings (yes, they did today ), we just don't get distracted easily, if not at all for the diehard football fans? Sometimes, we totally immerse ourselves into the thing we are doing, and lose the time and the world around them. That is because we truely love the thing we are doing. Therefore, the key to focus, I think, is love. If we want to focus on something, we must love it first and get excited. Love leads to priority, and priority draws attention and focus. So, love your job, love you family, love your friends, love the things you do, and love your Lord, from the bottom of your heart. Love the things that are truely important and deserve your attention, so they will become your priority and easily win your attention over the noise.

There is spiritual noise as well. Things we want and problems we are facing are all drawing our attention away from God. We have our eyes on the things in the world, and we lose our sight of God. It is not that we should not be wanting things in the physical world or finding solutions to problems in our physical life. We live our life on earth for the purpose of God, so we need to let it go through God and let God guide us through. It is like we are driving in Chicago downtown (assuming it is very confusing). There are signs, stree names, shops, buildings and people everywhere you look at. You are searching for hints for direction, but you may get more distraction and frustration than useful information. God is like the GPS system on your car's dashboard. You are still driving the car, minding the road and traffic, but let the GPS guide you. GPS knows all the roads and the turns all the way to the destination, but you can only see a block or two ahead of you. So put your trust to the GPS and let it tell you which way to go and where to turn. Now when you look at the surrounding buildings, people, signs and shops, you are not pressured to look for directions and get frustrated, instead you can start enjoying them. You will be amazed, wow, Chicago is beautiful. So is life.