focus Archives - Diana Derringer

Chasing Squirrels

November 17, 2025 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

We love watching squirrels in our neck of the woods. However, chasing those squirrels never works. Smaller and faster, they disappear before we can get out the door.

Yet we often succeed at chasing squirrels in other ways.

Chasing squirrels means we lose focus.

We get distracted and as a result, waste time. Rather than concentrate on our work, we notice everything else around us. For example,

“Oh, look! I saw a squirrel.”
Or butterfly
Or cute baby
Or airplane
Or anything except what we should see.

Chasing squirrels differs from chasing rabbits.

Chasing squirrels means we get distracted. Chasing rabbits means we get off subject. Both can be fun. Both can also cause problems if we fail to refocus or get back on subject.

After our squirrel moments, we want to hightail our minds back where they should be.

Always look in the right direction.

That includes to:

The work before us
The needs around us
God’s plan for us

“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV).

Thanks to Melissa Henderson for the suggestion.

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Cut to the Chase

September 1, 2025 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

Children know how to cut to the chase. They abandon boring activities and hightail it to their next adventure.

Cut to the chase means to get to the point.

We don’t bother with:

Trivial details
Information overload
Unnecessary actions

We address only what matters most. Forget the minor. Focus on the major.

We often wish people would cut to the chase.

Those brave among us tell them to quit dillydallying, to stop wasting our time. The not-so-brave endure their rabbit chasing until the end finally comes.

This expression has a motion picture history.

When a scene ends and another begins, they “cut” from one scene to the next. This may occur in filming or editing. To cut to the chase means to get to the exciting part of the film. They move from a slow scene and focus on an action shot. Think in terms of:

Car chases
Police raids
Helicopter fights

Movie producers want to keep their audiences interested.

Let’s cut to the chase with our lives.

We do well if we:

Focus on the most important.
Use every word, action, and attitude to live for and point others to our loving God.

“What I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3 NIV).

Thanks to Alma Haste for the suggestion and to Kelsi Wilson and Lorie Richerson for the photo.

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Bumfuzzled

February 26, 2024 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

All of us occasionally feel bumfuzzled. No matter what we do, we cannot find the answers we need.

We don’t know which way to turn or where to look for help. Our brains refuse to work. We are up a stump.

Bumfuzzled means confused.

We feel:

Inadequate
Frustrated
Perplexed
Anxious
Bewildered

The answer to our bumfuzzled feelings often lies within our reach.

We may simply need to wait, to let it be. For example:

If we relax, the answer frequently pops into our minds.

This happens for many of us in the middle of the night. I keep paper and pens in a bedside drawer for such moments.

Physical activity also helps.

Increased blood flow improves our brains as well as our bodies.

Our change of focus makes everything fall into place.

Confusion melts away.
Vexation turns to vision.
Purpose and meaning return.

We don’t need to sweat it when we find ourselves overwhelmed and unable to function.

However, we don’t want to stay there.

When we finally find what we need, we make a remarkable discovery. Along with the answers we sought, we also gained persistence and endurance.

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”. (Romans 8:26)

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Set Your Face Like Flint

September 19, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

Do you occasionally face tasks that seem impossible? Yet, you refuse to quit? Instead, you set your face like flint and finish the job before you?

Flint is a hard, dark rock.

It was often used in earlier times to make tools and start fires. Flint also makes strong stone walls.

To set your face like flint means to be determined.

When you face difficulties, you refuse to give up. Instead, you:

Focus on the task before you.
Dedicate yourself to its completion.

The prophet Isaiah described the Messiah, Jesus, as having “set my face like flint.”

Isaiah tells of Jesus’ determination to complete the role of a suffering servant. Jesus sacrificed His life on a cross to make eternal life possible for all who accept His gift.

You can follow Jesus’ example.

Life gets hard. Many tasks are tough. However, with God’s help, you can endure. You can keep on keeping on. You can also make a positive difference in an often negative world.

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7 NIV).

Thanks to Linda Russell for the suggestion. Image by Wesley Rocha from Pixabay

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Meet Yourself Coming and Going

August 2, 2021 Diana Derringer Comments 5 comments

Do you ever meet yourself coming and going? With too many irons in the fire, you start one job, walk away, and see another job that needs attention. You begin the new chore, turn around, and see something else to do. After moving from one task to another, you realize you have finished nothing.

Does that sound familiar?

To meet yourself coming and going, you feel pulled in several directions.

You find yourself with:

Too much to do
Little time to do it
Uncertainty when you will get everything done

Too many chores usually mean too little rest.

You never find time to:

Sleep
Relax
Enjoy life

You must slow down or you will get down.

Failure to rest eventually means you run out of steam. You either give up or get sick. No one can go forever. You have to take care of yourself in order to do what needs to be done.

In order to keep going, you first learn to be still — how to:

Rest
Relax
Recharge your strength.

You focus on what must be done rather than all you want to do.

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:8 NIV).

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Thank you to the person who made this suggestion, based on my recent activity. I confess I must plead guilty as charged.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

June 8, 2020 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

Keep Your Eyes Peeled--Old North Church steeple On April 18, 1775, many people in Boston kept their eyes peeled on the steeple of the Old North Church. There, two signal lanterns warned of British troops approaching by sea. This American history event became well known in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Paul Revere’s Ride.

The literal meaning of keep your eyes peeled sounds painful. However, the idiom suggests we watch closely to prevent pain or problems.

Similar expressions include:

Keep your eyes skinned.
Keep your eyes open.

If you keep your eyes peeled, you try not to blink too often or too long.

You want to stay alert to everything around you. Your eyelids are the eye’s skin or peel. When you blink, you chance missing what you want to see.

With your eyes peeled, you watch carefully for someone or something.

You might watch for:

A check in the mail
Bargains at a favorite store
An acceptance letter from your favorite school

You do not want to miss it.

You might also watch for the beauty around you:

Birds and animals
Mountains, lakes, or fields
Clouds, sunrises, and sunsets

Your focus – where you keep your eyes peeled – guides your life’s direction.

Stay wise as an owl. Choose your focus carefully.

Few things last forever. Not:

Money
Possessions
Status

Find eternal value in a relationship with the one who created you, eyes and all.

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8 NIV).

Thanks to Marilyn from Oklahoma for the suggestion.

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In Over My Head

September 11, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

In Over My Head--Acadia National Park Coastline I love to travel the coastline of Acadia National Park. However, if I enter the water, I get in over my head.

Sometimes I feel like I am in over my head with life.

I have more on my to-do list than I have time to do. I drown in work.

Also, when I try new tasks, I feel in over my head because I:

Don’t understand how to do them.
Have to spend hours or days to learn them.
Think I will never learn.

I feel like I am spinning my wheels. I want to give up.

When in over my head, I often tell myself:

I can’t do this.
I don’t know what I am doing.

When that happens, I need to get away from it all.

I need a break. My thinking must change to:

I can’t do everything, but I can do some things.
I can’t learn everything, but I can learn more than I know now.

When I focus on my problems, I feel in over my head. When I let go and let God take control, I find peace.

“God, save me! I’m in over my head” (Psalm 69:1 MSG).

How about you? What do you do when you feel you are in over your head? Please comment below.

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A Bee in Your Bonnet

October 7, 2014 Diana Derringer Comments 0 Comment

You need bees to pollinate plants. You don’t need a bee in your bonnet (hat or head covering).

Many beekeepers wear protective clothing, including a hat with a net. The net keeps bees away from their head and face. My husband was removing honey from a bee hive several years ago. Somehow, a few bees crawled inside his net. His one and only thought was to get that bonnet off!

When you get a bee in your bonnet, you focus totally on one idea. It controls your thoughts and actions. Nothing else matters to you.

Often that focus has no lasting value:

A car
A house
Clothes
Other material possessions

Occasionally the focus is harmful:

Hatred
Revenge
Prejudice

Why not focus instead on eternal values?

Trusting God
Serving others
Improving self

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23 NIV).

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