Zoom Out

Zoom Out

Imagine you’re in a slow-moving car on safari in the Serengeti of Africa. Everywhere you look, there is wild-life—lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, antelopes . . . you name it.

From a safe distance, you zoom in on a pride of lions with your camera and take several shots. But the lions, not surprisingly, are probably a fair distance away from many of the other animals. While your focus is in this tight, panning your viewfinder to the left or right won’t help you find them. To zoom in on the giraffes or elephants, you’ll first need to zoom out.

The focus of your heart and mind works in much the same way. Perhaps you’ve said that you’d like to start focusing on the things that matter. But the problem is, you’re already focused on the things that don’t.

So before you can zero in on what matters, you first need to zoom out, take in the larger landscape, and go in search of new animals.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. —Philippians 4:8