When my wife was young, her family sometimes went to an amusement park. She recalls going through what was called the spinning tunnel, one half of which was spinning one way and the other half was spinning the other way. The object of which was to be able to get through the tunnel without becoming disoriented and falling down. She said that while others in front or behind her were falling and then rolling with the spinning portion of the tunnel, she was able to maintain her balance and get through it standing up. She said the secret of her success was that she kept her eye on the level ground outside of the tunnel and did not watch the spinning under her feet. In other words, keep your eye on your goal, not, in this case, on the process preceding the goal. When we lose site of the goal or purpose for which we are engaged confusion often reigns.
When I was a university student we had to complete three physical education classes as part of the graduation requirements. I elected to take an archery class, and one of the first things the instructor advised us was to always keep our eyes on the target, that we should not concentrate on the process or how our hands were on the bow or the way we were holding the arrow. “Those,” he said, “were preliminary concepts that must be learned and practiced before shooting.” Once you pull the bow string back, there should be only one thing on your mind, the target. Later, I registered for a handball class, a sport that I learned to love and have played at least three times a week for 55 years, and I am still playing it as an old man. Here again, the concept is to keep your eye on the ball. A handball comes at you fast, and if you are looking at where you plan to place it away from your opponent you will not hit the ball square and probably lose the point. There are very few sports or other activities in life where it is not important to keep your eye on the goal or target.
In life our goal, or target, should be to live such that we can return, in the end, to our Heavenly Father, the place where we came from originally. In order to do that we have to keep our eye on the target. In this case, the target has become Jesus Christ, as no man can return to the Father without first accepting and then obeying His precepts. We have to keep our eye on the Savior. I love the story about when Peter, the chief apostle, asked to walk to Jesus on the billowing sea. The story is found in the 14th chapter of Matthew: “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. (Matthew 14:22–32)
It has been said of that event, that had Peter kept his eye on the Savior, he would not have doubted, and he would have been able to reach the Savior. As soon as he looked away and saw the boisterous wind and the dark waves beneath him, his faith wavered and he began to sink. He took his eye off the target and concentrated on the process of life instead. If we, too, want to be successful in reaching our target, through the Savior, we must keep our eye on Him. If we concentrate too much on the process of life and its boisterous winds and sometimes dark and heavy waves, we too will sink. May we be blessed to be able to keep our eyes on our target.