Focus and emphasis

WITH the many and even endless things that we have to

attend to everyday, it is important that we maintain a certain focus

and know which parts deserve more emphasis and highlight.

            At least, this effort will avert the likely possibility of

us falling into routine and feeling and sounding flat and bland in our

pronouncements. It will help us organize and rally all our faculties

in a certain direction and structure that hopefully will facilitate

understanding.

            Obviously, the constant and underlying focus of everything

that we do should be God. As St. Paul said, “Whether you eat or drink

or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) God

should be the beginning and end of everything, as well as the

in-between. There should be no other motive.

            But we need to translate that ideal into concrete details.

This would presume that we make some daily plans and strategies, a

habit that we should cultivate assiduously. We just cannot be fully

subject to chance or to the unstable movements of our feelings and

moods, and the other conditionings that we all have. In fact, many

times, we need to go against them, since they can clearly go against

the will of God.

            One of the first things that we need to do as we wake up

in the morning, for example, is to already have a good view of how the

day will be for us. We need to know the different activities and

events that will take place, the people we are likely to meet and deal

with, the goals we want to reach and the resources that we will be

needing.

            Of course, we cannot be in full control of things. There

will always be some surprises, some unexpected events, not to mention

the fluctuations of our physical and emotional conditions, etc. We

need to be flexible as well. But there is no doubt that we need some

basic structure, a basic daily schedule that can guide us during the

day.

            And of all the items in that daily schedule, we should try

to put some order, giving priority to one or two of them. It is

important that we arouse ourselves to excitement to that one or two

things that we are giving priority over the others. The net effect

should be that we feel always driven to do things with a clear sense

of direction.

            As much as possible we should avoid the feeling that we

are just doing things at random. That would be a sure formula for

tiredness and boredom. After some time, we would feel empty or simply

used, and things would start to appear as meaningless to us.

            And in every activity that we do, we should try to

identify which part should be given emphasis, so that the whole thing

would have some attractive and appealing structure and texture that

hopefully would elicit interest not only for oneself but also for the

others who are somehow involved or affected by that activity.

            In making a speech or a homily, for example, we have to do

some outline and have a clear idea of the main point that we need to

bring out. It is to this main point that we should put all the

“lightning and thunder.” Let’s never forget that people in general

usually give their immediate attention when they are shaken.

            The whole thing should be developed in such a way that

right at the start, people’s attention should already be caught. And

that attention should be kept by leading the people to a certain

climax. As much as possible, the audience should have the sensation

that they are in some guided adventure.

            With constant practice, this ideal can be turned into reality!