DISTRACTIONS

Now I am sure not a single one of you ever gets distracted.  I can picture you reading your devotional…focused…devouring every word.  I imagine you preparing for the Sunday School lesson.  You do not hear outside sounds because you are pondering the questions.  Your prayers are from your heart and not a single person on your prayer list is forgotten.

Well, ain’t you just special!  Well, really you are.  I envy you.  While you are reading and preparing and praying, I am … distracted.  I can be sooooo determined to do my devotional and I remember the mail will be coming shortly and if I don’t get the card addressed and get it into the mail box —- And I love to pray, but about half way through, I picture the meat for supper still in the freezer or that I need to pay a bill or the iPad beeps or —-

DISTRACTED! How do people do it?  And the worst is when I fall asleep.  I really want to say my bedtime prayers, but my eyes close, all on their own, and my breathing gets slower and I go to sleep.  What about morning prayers?  They have to wait until after a trip to the bathroom and by then I am awake and my body starts whispering “coffee…coffee…coffee.”

DISTRACTED — distracted except for one time.  I love preparing lessons for Sunday School.  I can read, underline, and make notes and never hear the drier beep.  I can google and search without stopping to look at Facebook or to reply to even one message.  I am focused! I am devouring every word! I find articles on the book we are studying and do a background check on the main characters.  I ponder what information will help us to better understand the lesson.  And I do not get sleepy.

Why can I spend hours preparing lessons and not make it through the day’s one page devotional?  Why are my eyes wide open when I study, but I need toothpicks to keep them open when I pray?

Well, when I pray, I am relaxed.  Talking to God seems to do that.  Somehow, I can begin a prayer angry or questioning or giving thanks or telling God my plan and, knowing he is listening, my body reacts.  My shoulders are lighter.  My breathing is calm.  And I go to sleep.

Often, and this is just me, a devotional cannot hold my attention.  Maybe it is too short.  Maybe it is too much like the one I read yesterday.  Maybe my mind sees a card laying on my desk and I remember I did not get it mailed and I might as well mail the card.

BUT studying to teach a lesson.  Finding a fun fact.  Finding the real reason Elimelek took his wife and sons to Moab.  (I often use Jewish websites when studying Old Testament books.).  This is what I love.  The research.  Coming up with questions the class will not expect.  Digging to find a way to make them see the story…the people…the impact on our lives today.  And that is why I do not hear the iPad ding nor the drier buzz nor Bill say my name.  It is what I love to do.

What do you love to do?  Do devotionals touch your soul?  Can you fall to your knees and offer endless prayers to God?  Can you send a song into the world?  Do you have a heart for children or can hear the concerns and fears of others and hold them in your confidence?  Do you enjoy giving the message at church?  What do you love to do and not be distracted?  My friend, the answer to that question is your calling.