Focusing On The Dot

One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin.

The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down, as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers.

To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions—just a black dot in the center of the sheet of paper. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following:

“I want you to write about what you see on the paper.”

The students, confused, started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams and started reading each one of them out loud, in front of everyone.

All of the tests, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all the tests had been read, the classroom remained silent. The professor started to explain:

“I’m not going to grade anyone on this test, I just wanted to give you something to think about. Every single one of you focused on the black dot, in the center of the page, and no one wrote about the white part of the paper. The same happens in our lives.”

We all tend to focus on the dark spots in our lives and make them the center of who we are, when really what we need to do is focus on the white…  the light of Jesus.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12