Focus

Weldon tripped again. He didn’t mean to trip. At least this time he didn’t fall. His mom, Fanny, didn’t seem to notice. He was glad she didn’t because she would tell him again to pay attention. He tried to pay attention, but exciting things were all around him. Weldon observed the things he loved.  The green grass, flowers, rocks, sky, birds, bugs…

“Weldon, pay attention to where you are going.”

“Yes, Mom.” Weldon responded as he drew his attention to his sliding hooves.

He caught himself for the third time in just two minutes. He had trouble focusing on his footing. High up in the Rocky Mountains, tripping was dangerous. He could hurt himself or worse—fall off the mountain. Bighorn Sheep are supposed to be surefooted.

He sighed and planted his next step firmly. He was only a few weeks old and therefore not walking long. The other young sheep didn’t have near the trouble he did to stay upright. He told himself again to focus on his hooves.

Fanny watched him closely as she walked behind him. She didn’t know what could be wrong. He looked strong and ran fine on the grassy areas and flat surfaces. But navigating the rocks and ledges seemed to be too tricky for him.

Fanny guided Weldon to her friend, Peaches, who had a lamb named Darnell. Weldon and Darnell jumped and played the rest of the afternoon. The two lambs liked to play together and had become strong friends.

The next day, a late snow storm blew in. The herd banded together against the cold fierce wind. Up high where they were, protection was hard to come by. Snow fell for two solid days, covering everything making it hard to forage for food. The herd decided to descend the mountain.

Weldon didn’t want to climb down on the slippery loose or jagged rocks. He hadn’t had good luck in the last few weeks staying on all fours. Weldon followed his mom trying to put his hooves where hers had been. He did well the first fifteen minutes, but soon his attention wandered to a hawk. He took his eyes off his hooves to the graceful soaring hawk. Weldon wondered what flying would be like. Flying seemed much easier than walking on the side of this mountain. That’s when it happened. He slipped! He was lucky, he fell toward his mom and she was able to block his fall. He dislodged rocks which tumbled, crashing down barely missing sheep below.

Fanny turned. “Weldon, what are you doing? You made rocks slide and could have hurt one of us.”

“I’m sorry, mom. A hawk caught my eye.”

“What hawk? Did it swoop at you?”

“No, the hawk was soaring through the brilliant sky.”

“Weldon, you need to pay close attention to what you're doing. You can’t be looking up or away when you are on these steep paths. Your steps not only affect where you go and how you arrive, but others also. If you miss-step and cause a rock slide, it may make the pass impossible to navigate or cause harm to others. I’m glad I got in your way or you would have followed the rocks down the mountain.”

Weldon hung his head. He felt sad. He didn’t want to trip or slide. He wanted to be like the other sure footed sheep. Most importantly, he wanted his mom to be proud of him. Weldon hated hearing lectures, even though he knew she said them out of love. He hadn’t tripped on purpose. His attention sped away, which happened frequently.

They went on. Soon, Fanny stopped and said she would go ahead of him and be under him on the path below in case he fell. In this way, she would catch him. This meant he wouldn't enjoy the comfort of her nearness. He didn’t understand her decision but didn’t question her. Silently he hiked on. The mountain was huge and it became apparent they had a long way to go.

Finally, he viewed a meadow. From his vantage point he saw the beauty of it. Grass and flowers seemed abundant. The snow was scarce. He got excited and trotted, creating a problem. His hooves got tangled and the next thing he knew, he was in a free-fall slide. He let out a terrible cry and crashed against his mom. She took most of the impact but couldn’t stand her ground and they both landed in a heap. One of her legs got twisted under her.

Weldon got up and shook himself, trying to get rid of the debris of rock and dirt. “Mom, I’m sorry I fell.” He looked down at her. “Mom are you alright?”

“My leg is the problem. I’ll be alright. Give me a minute.”

After what seemed like an hour to Weldon, she got slowly to her hooves. Fanny took a few tentative steps. She would be fine. Her leg wasn’t broken, but pain shot through her every step. Limping slightly she led the rest of the way down. Weldon watched her and took care not to trip. He didn’t look anywhere other than on her back legs and his own hooves. Weldon hiked down the last few hundred feet without incident.

When they reached the meadow, she said he could eat and play with his friends. He shook his head. He didn’t want to leave her side. Weldon knew his lack of attention had caused her injury and pain. He ate next to her and made sure she was alright. After a huge lunch on grass and a few flowers, he plopped down next to her.

“Weldon, I’m not angry with you—accidents happen. A lesson should be learned from this. What do you think it is?”

He shrugged his shoulders. She was silent, so he knew she was waiting for his reply. “Well, I should have focused on where I was going.”

“What else?”

“I hurt you and I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you son. Weldon, you need to realize what you do affects others. I haven’t been telling you to pay attention to make your life more difficult. I want you to be the best you can be. Imagination and observation are good things. There is a time for those—when you are resting. When a job is to be done such as navigating a difficult climb, you need to focus and have determination. You’ll never live up to your full potential if your mind easily gets pulled away from what you are doing. The task at hand needs to be given your full attention. In this way, you will grow up to be a powerful ram that can lead.”

Weldon wanted to grow up to be strong like his father. His huge father was a strong unique leader who was tuned in to the needs of the other bighorn sheep. Weldon saw him across the meadow standing tall and powerful. Weldon felt certain his father never tripped or messed up.  

Fanny saw where her son’s attention had gone. “Your father tripped a few times in his young life, but he learned from his accidents. He learned to focus when needed. He takes time to appreciate the beauty around him. Also, he has a great imagination. Focus and imagination made him a strong leader, but it took time to fine tune them.”

“Thanks Mom. I’ll work on both.”

“I’m proud of you Weldon. Right now, why don’t you work on developing your imagination? There is an owl in that tree that’s sound asleep.  What do you think he’s dreaming about?”

Weldon’s smile spread as his imagination took flight.

Boys and girls, what do you think about our story of Weldon? Do you have trouble focusing? Do you get distracted easily? I worked on that when I was younger. It is a learned thing. Some people have more difficulty focusing than others. We need to be patient with people who are distracted easily. It’s our job when we get older or our parent’s job now to gently guide them to where they need to be. Maybe sharing this story could help.

Not focusing is not paying attention.  

When you don’t pay attention you miss things: Isaiah 42:20 Seeing many things, but you do not observe; opening the ears but he does not hear.

Proverbs 4:1 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding.

If you need to learn to focus or increase your attention span—ask the Lord to help you. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

Memorize one or more of the above verses.

Verses in NKJV unless otherwise stated.

Self-discipline

Pigs like to wallow in mud. Wallowing means rolling about or lying in something. Pigs use the mud to cool themselves down and get rid of parasites or bugs off their skin. It is important for pigs to roll around in mud. It is like when you take a bath. You lie in the water and sometimes roll in it. It feels so refreshing. The mud feels that way to pigs.

Baby pigs are called piglets and they are cute.

Momma pigs are called sows. Hester is a sow who has 10 piglets. That is a lot of babies! She loves all of her piglets. They play, sleep, and fight to see who gets to eat first, just like all babies do. Hester has noticed that one of her piglets, named Clover, doesn’t like to get dirty. Clover tries to avoid dirt, especially mud. Even when eating, she climbs up on top of her brothers and sisters to get off the dirt.

When Clover was old enough to talk, Hester asked her, “Clover, why don’t you get into the mud with your brothers and sisters?”

“I don’t like the way the mud squishes between my toes. I don’t like the dirt flying in my eyes and sticking in my hair. I hate it when it gets stuck in my snout and ears. It's yucky!”

"Clover, all pigs like dirt, especially mud. It helps us cool down and feels great on our skin. We live in a place that has dirt. We are not people who get to walk on clean floors. We live outside in all kinds of weather. We end up trampling the grass and making it muddy, so we don’t have that to walk on either. It is our way of life. You need to get used to it.”

Clover didn’t like that idea. She continued to avoid the dirt as much as possible. When their owner, the farmer, ran water to their pen, she scooted over to the water to rinse off. Then she had a terrible time trying to stay out of the mud the water created. She imagined herself with boots on her feet to protect her from the mud.  

That’s silly!

She made life hard on herself. Every day the other piglets had fun while she worked at not getting dirty. She was a miserable piglet.

One of her brothers, Mo, saw her moping. “Clover, why are you sad?”

“I want to have fun with the rest of you, but you get so dirty.”

 “Dirty? What are you talking about?”

“You get the mud all over yourselves.”

“Have you felt it? It feels great to have the mud wash over you. I love the way it cools me down and makes me feel clean.”

“That’s silly.”

“Well, I guess it is what pigs do. I see every pig here doing it, and I like it. I wish you would like it too. Come on and try it. I’ll go with you.”

Clover shook her head so Mo wandered off. 

Clover watched her family playing in the mud. She envied them and wanted to have fun too. Feeling dirty made her squirm.

Hester said, “Clover, you need to make yourself get over the fear of being dirty. You can do it. You need to act like a pig!”

Clover thought and thought about what her momma said. She knew she could control her attitude about being dirty. She just needed to sum up the courage to get really dirty and shove the bad feeling away. Working up her courage, she asked Mo to go with her.

They walked up to the mud hole, counted to three, and jumped in. It wasn’t a far jump because pigs have short legs and don’t jump easily. It was far enough that she got mud all over herself. She thought it felt weird. She had a terrible desire to dash out, but she made herself sit still. Then bracing herself, she rolled in it! Rolling around, she got saturated with it. Freaking out a bit, she still held herself in the mud.

Mo said, “You are doing great! You have mud all over. It’s in your ears and snout, awesome!”

Clover giggled at his enthusiasm. She slurped some mud in her mouth and spewed it at him. He laughed and did it back. Soon, she realized she was having the best fun in all of her life! In the mud a little ways away, her momma was smiling and chuckling to herself.

Clover learned to like the dirt and mud. After that, it seemed she had dirt on all the time.

 

Clover learned self-discipline. Self-discipline is a good thing to learn. It could be that you need to make yourself do something others do, like Clover did. Or you may need to make yourself not do something you should not do. Some people have an anger issue they need to learn to have self-discipline over. People may eat too much, or not enough and need to learn self-discipline. Maybe there is food that you should eat, but just don’t like. Your mom might need to give you medicine and you don’t want to take it. Learn self-discipline and do it without complaint. We need to have self-discipline to obey, do our homework, eat our vegetables or other food, do our chores, read instead of play, and other things in our lives. I’m sure your parents can show you in what ways you need to strengthen your self-discipline.

The Bible says, I Corinthians 9:27a But I discipline my body and bring it unto subjection... 1Peter 1:5-6 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance… It takes discipline to do what this verse says, Titus 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

Memorize: I Corinthians 9:27a But I discipline my body and bring it unto subjection... 

Verses in NKJV unless otherwise stated.