I am sure you have heard of some businesses that were started in someone’s garage. What you might not realize is the length of that list, or of the names of companies that are on it. Here is a sampling of garage-started endeavors:
- Disney
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Hewlett-Packard
- Maglite
- Dell
- Virgin
- Amazon
- Ford
I want to focus on that last one for now. Henry Ford, while working as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company, built his first gasoline-powered vehicle in a shed behind his home. He called it a quadricycle. He started his own company in 1903 and rolled out the now famous Model T five years later. The first one cost 850 dollars which is somewhere in the low 20-thousands in today’s money. That wasn’t the domain of the ultra-rich, but it didn’t allow just anyone to buy one either. Ford knew that he had to get the cost down if his invention was going to go mainstream.
Enter the assembly line.
Henry Ford didn’t invent it, but he was one of the first to use it in major manufacturing. His assembly line had four main principles.
Replaceable parts
Perpetual flow
Division of labour
Reduction of wasted effort
Once he got this going, the cost of the Model T plummeted to 260 dollars, around 8 thousand dollars in today’s money. That is still in the realm of a major purchase, but it was one that many more people could now consider. The time it took to make one of these cars went from 12 hours to just over an hour and a half.
What this is really telling us is the value of focus. When each person focuses on one job, amazing things can happen. This is a proven strategy that has been adopted just about everywhere.
So why don’t we do this more in our own lives? We don’t focus that much on one thing. We are pulled in several different directions at once. We say we don’t have time for focusing on just one thing. Indeed, family, work, and other commitments suggest that is true. But what if we forced ourselves to focus on a small number of things at a time?
What if we did this in our faith?
This concept isn’t new. The Israelites had the same problem in the wilderness. Maybe that is why, at the beginning of the book of Joshua, we read about a call for spiritual focus.
Jushua 1:1-9
Joshua 1:1-9
Now after the death of His servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.
3I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. 4Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.
5No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.
7Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go. 8This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
9Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Three times in that passage the people are told to be strong and courageous. And notice the emphasis on the Law here. At that time the Law served a dual purpose. It was God’s message to the people.
What do you think it would mean to focus on God’s message to you?
Some people call this kind of focusing “meditation.” Others might call it simply “prayer.” Whatever the name, there are proven benefits for setting aside time to focus on God’s presence in your life. Emotional health gets better. Anxiety and stress are reduced. It can reduce blood pressure and can improve sleep. And it doesn’t cost us anything.
So take time to focus on the divine presence in your life. You will be glad you did.
God Bless.