Attention!

When I was in 8th grade, I loved basketball. I watched it constantly, played endlessly and could quote all kinds of stats. In high school I fell in love with football and weightlifting. I basically lived in the gym. I was reading all the bodybuilder magazines and eating like food was going out of style. I remember waking up at 5am to go to the gym with my cousins and getting home by 7am to cook up a half dozen eggs and a baked chicken breast for breakfast.

College rolled around and I became really interested in women and sex. All the music that I listened to had a message in it about sexing some woman up. I distinctly remember constantly listening to Joe's album with songs like "Somebody's Gotta Be On Top" I'm walking around with lyrics like "ecstacy on the balcony, going down for more on the kitchen floor, slipping and sliding I want you to ride it on my knees, I have you scream, quick, quick, quick, don't let it go" I became a fan of Ludacris's "I want to lick you from your head to your toes..."

There was a common theme in the things that held my interest. And that common denominator is that I willingly and continuously gave my attention to those things. Today, I still like basketball and football, but I'm not fanatical about it like I was in the past when I devoted a substantial amount of my time studying and watching those things. Today, I'm busy... all the time, so when I catch a game I still enjoy it, but my desire isn't drawn completely towards that. I still love working out but now I have to schedule it because there are other priorities in my life that take precedent.

The other day, I asked an unmarried person, what was single people's obsession with sex all the time. And her answer was that it is hard to not think about it. She said that because I was "married and getting it all the time" is why I couldn't understand what single people were going through. Then it occurred to me. That's doesn't happen on its own. That desire doesn't come from nowhere. Here is where it tends to come from:

"When I get you to the crib, upstairs to the bed, girl you gone think I invented sex..."

"Stressed out, uptight, overworked, wound up, unleash what you got, let's explore your naughty side..."

We never notice it but it's what we give our attention to. What you continually give your attention to is what you'll begin to desire. That goes for "who" you give your attention to as well. So if it's something or someone that is not good for you, divert your attention. There is a reason why successful people are a success in the areas of their success and it's because they know how to divert their attention to more productive things.

Proverbs 4:20-25My son, attend your ear to my sayings, let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart... keep your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of your life...put away from you a froward mouth and preverse lips,...let your eyes look right on.

Look at the key words... EARS, EYES, KEEP, HEART, MOUTH, RIGHT ON. That's saying that what you allow to go in your ears, eyes, come out of your mouth, and allow to get into your heart, shapes the issues for your life. It says to give your attention to right, productive words, and don't get distracted. This is a key to your success in any arena.

Side note: Now that I'm married... I'm going back to pick up that Joe album.