Although the sun bombards the earth every hour with billions of kilowatts of energy, we can protect ourselves from most of its effects with a hat and sunscreen. On the other hand a laser can take just a few watts of energy, focus them in a coherent stream of light and drill a hole through a diamond.
The difference is focus. Tenor superstar Luciano Pavarotti learned the importance of focus from his father. The young Luciano became a pupil of a professional tenor in his hometown of Modena, Italy. At the same time, he enrolled in a teachers' college.
When he graduated, Luciano asked his father, "Shall I be a teacher or a singer?"
His father replied, "Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair."
The same thought was expressed in a quote by an unknown author: "A man with two watches is never quite sure what time it is."
The now-famous Luciano Pavarotti wrote years later: "I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair."
The same is true throughout all of life. Take living for Christ, for example. We cannot serve Christ and walk in the paths of the world. We cannot please both Christ and our own desires. It inevitably happens that when we try to do that, our hearts are drawn away from Him, because He will not share His Lordship with anything--or anyone.
So to paraphrase the elder Pavarotti, "Choose one passion." Will it be Christ, or something else?
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com