Every farmer knows that to plow a straight furrow, you can't look back at the furrow you have just dug, and you can't focus on the spot where the plow is presently turning over soil. An occasional glance back is okay, just to see what the past looks like. And some attention must be paid to the point where he is plowing, to be sure the plow is working properly. However, the focus must be on the goal, on the aiming point that gives perspective to the entire process. Focusing on either the past or the nuts and bolts of the present results in a furrow resembling a mountain road.
Straight living requires it, too.
Our farmer seems to have forgotten that the target must not only be at enough distance to see clearly and in perspective, but it must be stationary and unchangeable, predictable and dependable. We are all farmers. Or at least furrows close enough to straight to make the effort of plowing them worth while. But few of us have any idea of how to do that, and as a result we come to the end of the field, look back, and see a crazy quilt of twisting, wandering confusion, a field devoid of order or purpose, and not much good for planting a crop. Our problem is that we do not have our focus on an appropriate target, a landmark by which we can judge our direction.