It was five in the morning. I was a freshman at college in Springfield, MO and, suddenly, the phone rang.

It must have taken me five or six rings to answer and several sentences into the conversation before I realized it was my boss, Bill Hartley—owner of a small roofing company. My illustrious part-time job for him was to carry bundles of shingles up to a first or second story, placing each strategically.

I was not alone in my misery, however.[1] I had gotten my roommate, Rick, a job too.  Rick and I had a mutually beneficial relationship: He had a car and I didn’t.  I had a job and he didn’t.  And so, I got him a job and he got us both to it.

On this particular day, we showed up to work at the same place we had been the previous day. The funny thing was that nobody was there and there was little to do. We waited for an hour and finally went home.  This was before everyone had a cell phone and you could easily call or text to find out what was up.

So that night I called my boss to find out what happened.  I greeted him, “Hey Bill, this is Greg.” His response took me off guard.  It was angry and sarcastic: “Oh, you still want a job?!!” I said, “What do you mean?”  He said, “Why didn’t you guys show up for work today?” I explained that we had and how we had waited for a while. Then I named the particular location. There was a long pause… and he began to laugh!

He said, “Greg, I told you on the phone this morning that we were going to a new job—I even gave you the address…” Truthfully, I had no recollection whatsoever! Everything had been a blur. My mind had been too foggy that to process or respond to important information.

Things worked out. I kept my job and it became a joke between all of us. If my boss had a lot of details to communicate, he often would humorously say, “Maybe I should talk to Rick.”

You laugh but probably most of us are glad our morning routines are not on display. I don’t know about you but it is the worst when I lose my glasses or my keys. Of course, when you move, as we did recently, it gets interesting too. You can’t find anything! While our kids were growing up and in school, it was my role for years to point them in the direction of various things like milk, vitamins, toast, peanut butter, or my son’s book bag or shoes.

We all have mornings that are a blur but when they turn into days, weeks, months, semesters, or even a year that’s when life gets hard, painful—or worse yet, wasted.

As I mentioned, on that morning when my boss called my mind had been too foggy to process or respond to important information. That can happen to our souls too, right?

We all need for focus in our lives. Focus is defined as “adjustment for distinct vision; the area that may be seen clearly or resolved into a clear image.” When we talk about soul focus it’s like having our internal binoculars adjusted.

 Over the next four weeks, I’d like to look at these four small creatures in Prov. 30:24-28:

Four things on earth are small,
but they are exceedingly wise:
the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
the locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in rank;
the lizard you can take in your hands,
yet it is in kings’ palaces. (ESV)

If we’re humble enough, these four small creatures can teach us four big lessons and give us renewed focus for the fall season.

But first, we need to transport ourselves into another culture. We need help understanding these little creatures in the same way that Solomon or someone like him would need explanation of our pugs, black labs, turkeys, strawberry flies, or Canadian geese.

It’s to that task we turn next week, looking first at the ants. Stay tuned!

[1] Sometimes people ask me how I learned the carpentry trade. Often, I’ll tell them about this first job and how carrying 70 lb. bundles of shingles up on a roof is a great incentive to learn other skills within the construction trade! Yet, honestly, after wanting to quit every day for two weeks, your body gets conditioned. It becomes easier and even exhilarating to pick up and carry each bundle—to feel strong and work hard, especially on a cool, crisp day.