This morning as I was reading through my plan for reading through the Bible this year, I read a portion of the story of Joseph.  I love this story.  Being one of three boys, I can easily relate to Joseph and the torcher that brothers give each other.  I have always loved the point in the story where his brothers show up and they don’t realize its Joseph, their brother that they are asking for grain for.  He finally has the upper hand and can invoke the due punishment on his brothers for their wrong doings.  What is amazing in this story that I noticed this morning was Joseph’s focus through his life.  Joseph made a deliberate choice to not choose to focus on his circumstances, but to focus on God and what God could do through his circumstances.  We see this at play when he finally reveals himself to his brothers.  He immediately tells them not to fear, that He does not have plans to pay them back.  In fact he tells them that it was all God’s plan designed to save them from the famine and make their people great.  Wow what a perspective.  I don’t know that if I went through all that Joseph did, that I could have that same attitude and perspective on life. 

 

Like Joseph we all face a plethora of challenges, and difficult circumstances in our lives.  It is up to us to choose to have a perspective that focuses on God and what He can do through our circumstances, rather than choosing to focus on our circumstances and how bad they might be.  Like most things in our life this is a choice and it is up to you to choose what you will allow yourself to focus on.  So where is your focus?  The reality is that when we choose to focus on God, and what He can do through our circumstances, we choose to rise above our circumstances, and achieve things we never dreamed possible.  If we choose to focus on our circumstances we choose to get bogged down and settle for less than what God created us for.  So which will you choose today?