"Two or three kids are sitting in a dark room, watching tv or a video game. 

They are totally focused on the screen, slack-jawed and glassy eyed.  

All of a sudden, the power goes out.  The kids kind of shake their heads and wake up.   

Then one yells - "Hey mom!  What's going on?"  

"I don't know," they hear from off-screen. 

Huh. 

Pretty soon, they get bored, look outside, open the curtains, and see a sunny day with their friends playing outside.  They decide to join them since this room isn't any fun anymore. 

The parting shot of the commercial?  The mom is standing next to the open electrical breaker box of the house, with a small smile on her face and says

"Gets 'em every time."

 

WHAT COMMERCIAL IS THIS?  If you think you know, tell me! 

This story impacted me at a critical time.  I needed to make some decisions re: my business and had sought counsel from some dear and trusted friends and business-people. 

As my friend, Sharon, shared that little commercial with me, it hit me.  

I had been the slack-jawed, glassy-eyed kid.  In a dark room, focused on the wrong things while life was going on outside.

For me, it was my finances that I was focused on.   Or, more appropriately, my worry about finances had become my focus. 

Through this worry, I believe God allowed me to see my circumstances in a different way.  To open my eyes to what was really around me - not just my own little dark room of concern.  

This story reminded me in a flood-light of recognition that God will use certain things in your life to get your attention.  I think that He turns the breaker off sometimes to get you to focus on the right things.  

He might use money, your job, your health, your marriage, or your family relationships.  As your "breaker" shuts off, and you wake up to the reality of how things might be if you made different choices, you have a chance.   

To shift, to change, to decide to carry a different perspective.   

I chose to change my perspective that day.  As I kept that story in my heart, I would grin as I imagined God standing at the breaker box of my heart.  For me, He used circumstances to shut off the area of my unhealthy focus as he said "Gets her every time."  

As I asked for counsel, I received multiple gifts of wisdom from some terrific people who spent a bit of time with me to help me re-focus.  As soon as I shifted focus, of course, things turned around. Not instantly, but consistently.     

So where are YOU focusing right now that's unhealthy?  Or what are you focusing on that keeps you from looking at something that you really need to address?  What relationship is suffering because you are not paying attention?

When you feel that things are getting crazy, or think that you're reaching the end of your rope - maybe it's the breaker being pulled.  Maybe Someone is trying to get your attention.