Clyde Beatty was a boy from Bainbridge, Ohio who ran off to join the circus. He started as a cage cleaner. The kind of job no one notices. The kind of beginning that feels small and forgettable.

Beatty stayed in the cage, but not as a cleaner. He rose to fame as one of the most renowned circus performers and animal trainers in all the world. He was most famous for his “fighting act”, where he would enter a cage with lions, tigers, cougars, and hyenas and a whip and a pistol. And he would successfully tame the animals.

At a time when most lion tamers died in the ring, Beatty survived. It wasn’t a lion that took Beatty’s life, rather it was cancer. So how did Beatty do it?

It wasn’t the whip or the pistol. It was a chair. Beatty was one of the first lion tamers to take a chair into the circus ring.

While everyone watched the dramatic crack of the whip, the real power was in a simple chair. When a chair is held in front of a lion’s face, the lion sees all four legs at the same time. He loses focus, becomes confused, and freezes. The lion doesn’t know what to do.

Do you ever feel like the lion and freeze, struggling to determine your next steps or experiencing analysis paralysis?

When we are confused about what to focus on, we become scattered and distracted. We find ourselves caught in the web of trying to focus on so many things.

The apostle Paul reminds us it doesn’t have to be that way. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, he urges us to live with focus and intentionality: “Do not run like someone running aimlessly.” In Philippians 3:13-14, he reminds us to keep our eyes on the prize, “. . . forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

When we when feel paralyzed, Paul’s words are a lifeline. He isn’t talking about perfection. He’s talking about focus. He encourages us to decide what matters most and refuse to drift away from it.

What if following God isn’t about managing everything. What if it’s about focusing on the prize for which He has called you and trusting Him with the everything?

One step of obedience.
One act of courage.
One decision you’ve been avoiding.

Maybe it’s finally breaking that habit you keep excusing or reaching out to repair a broken relationship. Or getting help for an addiction or begin to live a healthier lifestyle. Do you need to end an unhealthy relationship, get out of debt, find a church home?

Ask yourself today, “What is the one thing God is placing in front of me right now?”

Transformation doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from focusing your heart where God is already working. Listen for His still, quiet voice and “press on…”

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