Stay Focused and Keep Doing Your Great Work

Into what activity are you pouring your time and energy?

Perhaps you’re a stay-at-home mom consumed with chasing toddlers or driving your tweens to and from extra-curricular activities. Maybe you’re a career gal using your skills in office management, teaching, or nursing. Perhaps you’re caring for a senior parent, or teaching a Sunday school class for preschoolers, or working hard to keep a difficult marriage intact.

Whatever it is, remain focused and faithful on the great work God has called you to do.

Nehemiah stayed focused

Nehemiah and his people had undertaken the project of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. They’d persevered despite the enemy’s threats and taunts. As completion loomed on the horizon, their enemies tried once more to disrupt them. The three ringleaders sent a message to Nehemiah: “Come, meet with us.”

The request sounded reasonable. What harm was there in simply meeting with these men? But Nehemiah was no dummy. He knew better than to fall for the enemy’s tactics.

Recognizing that the men meant harm, he replied, “Not a chance. I’m doing a great work! I cannot stop to come and meet with you” (Nehemiah 6:2-3).

I was tempted to lose focus

As a stay-at-home mom of three preschoolers, I often struggled with recognizing the greatness of my work. I compared my days with those of my friends who’d chosen to work outside their homes and felt like I was missing out. More than once I was tempted to do as the inner voice suggested: “Go find a real job – something that rewards you with a paycheck.”

For me, following that voice would have meant playing into the enemy’s hands. My heart’s deepest desire from my teenage years was to be a stay-at-home mom. I knew this was an important job. My husband’s income was sufficient to pay the bills, so I didn’t need to find outside work. If I left my position, it would be solely to satisfy some unrecognized inner need for recognition.

God gave me the ability to say no to the voice that suggested my role was insignificant. “No thanks,” I said. “I’m doing a great work! I cannot…I will not…stop what I’m doing at home.”

Stay the course

Whatever your role, it’s possible you’ve faced (or are facing) taunts and temptations to quit, to leave your work and turn your focus to something else. Let me encourage you to disregard those thoughts.

If you’re where God has planted you, then stay focused and faithful there. Recognize that what you’re doing is valuable in His eyes. You’re doing a great work, my friend. Stay where you are until He moves you elsewhere, and you’ll find joy in obeying His voice, not the other.