I’m in my late 70s, and I’m still learning and figuring things out. Better late than never.

As a kid, I remember asking my dad about a deep scratch or bruise on his arm. “Where did that come from?” Dad would simply reply, “I don’t know.” I couldn’t believe it! How could you scratch your arm or run into something and not remember the incident? That was beyond my comprehension as a young boy.

I’m beginning to understand. While getting dressed recently, I noticed a couple of scratches on one leg and a bruise on the other. I have no idea where they came from. I flashed back to my time with Dad and understood he was teaching me without lecturing me. Without specific words, Dad said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth worrying about or spending time thinking about.”

I’m finding a lot of applications for that lesson beyond scratches or bruises. There are many things that happen in life that we sometimes spend way too much time thinking about…or obsessing over. We try to find the cause of this little thing or the reason for that little thing. Or we assign some sort of spiritual application to it as a way of explaining it. Flip Wilson was an American comedian famous for saying, “The Devil made me do it.” Pardon the pun, but that was his “flip” answer for why some things happened.

As a leader, you encounter many things each day that could command your attention at home or at your office or ministry. And many of those things won’t matter. Don’t waste valuable time on trivial things that can detract from the important things of your ministry, your work, your family, or your life.

The Apostle Paul often encourages us to focus on the important. After admitting to the Philippian Christ-followers that he didn’t fully comprehend everything, Paul said this:

…but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

My translation of that is, “Quit worrying about the little things or the past things. You’re probably not going to figure them all out, anyway. Look forward. See the goal God has set before you…and press on to that. There is a greater reward than figuring out…where that little scratch came from.”

God’s best,