Thursday, January 31, 2008

Is Your One Thing the Main Thing?

My son Simon the other night had what is known as "croup cough". If you don't have children or don't know what that is, it restricts a child's breathing to the point that when they cough, they sound like a barking seal with a bad smoking habit. Now when your child is having difficulty breathing, getting them to breath properly takes on a new level of importance, because after all breathing is crucial to staying alive. So I did things that night that I wouldn't normally do. First of all, I stayed up most of the night. I don't know about you, but I prefer to sleep at night. But me sleeping was trumped by making sure my son could breath. Secondly, I bundled up to walk about is sub-freezing temperatures. I usually don't take walks at 2 am in my pajamas when it's 17 degrees, but apparently this helps their breathing. Him breathing was more important. Also, I called a friend of ours who is a nurse. I usually don't make calls to friends at 2 am either, but my son breathing was more important. If I was going to do anything that night, it was making sure my son breathed properly. That night, that was my one thing.

David says something similar in Psalm 27:4, "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."

David discovered that his one thing - that which he would seek after was being in God's presence.

How would you fill in that blank? What is your one thing? What is it in your life that takes a back seat when that one thing is threatened?