From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, CEB)
I can’t recall seeing a movie that brought about such an exhilarating combination of fear and inspiration as the documentary “Free Solo” I watched with my children a couple weeks ago. Simply put, it’s a documentary about Alex Honnold, the first person to climb El Capitan, a 3,000-foot vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park without ropes of any kind. Let me repeat that. The guy scaled a 3,000-foot rock wall without ropes.
I’m no fan of heights so my palms were sweating nearly the entire movie, even though I knew he’d make it. My kids shushed me more than once because I kept whispering things like, “You’ve got to be kidding me” throughout the movie. But it really was unbelievable to see him accomplish this feat.
One of the things that struck me was the immense amount of focus the climb took. He practiced (with ropes) climbing El Capitan numerous times so that he would get the feel of the rock, to know every nook and cranny and protrusion that he could use to continue his ascent. He’s quoted as saying elsewhere, “I’m not thinking about anything when I’m climbing, which is part of the appeal. I’m focused on executing what’s in front of me.” That focus is so apparent in the movie.
It made me think of the times the word “focus” shows up in the Common English Bible (20) in verses like the one above. And it makes me think of the many ways we live distracted lives. We put our earbuds in and our eyes on our devices so that we don’t have to interact with anyone. We have a conversation, but we’re really wondering about who else is in the room or what else we could be doing. So many things clamor for our attention and God asks for just a little focus so that our minds can zero in on what is true, holy, just, lovely, and worthy of praise. See if you can put away some distractions today. Focus on what or who is on front of you. I believe your souls will begin to ascend as you do so.