Blessed With A Word

I've been pondering on my Blog word for this new year - in 2017 my #word365 was hope and last year it was more. My inspiration has come from my Buddhist friend Bless, who shared a word in one of her Advent posts. She talked about the Sanskrit word sraddha, meaning acts done with sincerity and faith, as she puts it "with intention, purpose and focus" 
I'm not using her word - but it directed my thoughts towards focus. [Thanks for the inspiration  Bless] 
I looked up the origins... 

The ancient Latin word focus meant domestic hearth. In the 17th Century, scientists used the word to meant the point where rays of light shone through a lens converge. Because sunlight focused through a lens can generate enough heat to ignite paper, fireplace is a good metaphor.
Nowadays we use the word focus in many different ways

• The centre of our attention
• The quality of having, or producing clear visual definition [optical term] 
• A fixed point which helps define the relationship between others [that's a mathematical term, eg for drawing a parabola]

This year I'm aiming to be more focused. These 3 definitions of focus help... 

I know I'm always busy, that's how I am - but Bob is right when he says that sometimes my incessant multi-tasking makes me less productive. Filling the dining room with fabrics and sewing machines to start making costumes is fine - but maybe I should have put away the best china first [instead of leaving it stacked on the sideboard] Sitting at my desk to plan a lesson is important - but I really should not put my books on top of papers waiting to be filed. Focus on finishing off one task before starting the next, because those 5 minutes spent putting things away may prevent 20minutes frantic searching for something I've mislaid. I need to think about what should be the 'centre of my attention " at any given moment. 

I'm getting better at photography but still get many images out of focus because I'm too eager to take the picture. I need to stop and look at the subject before taking the picture. Generally I need to slow down a little to achieve clearer results, in life, not just in my camera technique.

And as a mathematician, I know the importance of the fixed point - as a Christian, my focus as I enter the new year must be Jesus. Hebrews 12;2 talks about "focusing on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" and it reminds me to "run with patience the race set before me". In this fast changing, stressful world, He is my fixed point.