A while ago, an artist friend told me an artist’s secret. She said, “You have to choose a focal point on the canvas and keep your focus there. The mistake that a lot of young artists make is this: they try to fit too many things into the painting. For instance, if you want trees in the background, that’s fine, but they have to stay in the background. The focal point has to be the main thing.”
“He asked Him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ Jesus answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than this.” Mark 12:28-31
Father, amidst the pressures and pleasures and demands and fears of this day, may loving you and my neighbor be my focal point. May all else stay in the background.