Written: April 17, 2016
Do you ever get distracted? I do…like just now when I had to blow off cat hair from my lap top, just because it was bothering me. Lately, I’ve been amazed at just how much something can distract you, and it doesn’t have to be something extraordinary or spectacular…it can be as small as a bump on your finger. Actually, I think sometimes it’s the smallest things that cause the biggest problems.
So, well over a week now, I’ve had this bump on my finger — the finger where I have been wearing for at least 10 years my “love” ring that my boys gave me one year. Somehow, this small bump was just a bit too close to my ring, so It irritated me. It didn’t itch or grow huge, but was just something “I was aware of” over the course of several days.
However, this awareness of even a benign foreign object on my finger was enough to distract me. I especially noticed the distraction when I wanted to concentrate on something else. I realized that God was teaching me something from this bump when the distraction came during my morning quiet time with the Lord. I would be intently reading the Bible, and all of a sudden, I’d start playing with the bump. Eyes diverted, attention lost.
I decided I had to get rid of this bump if I was going to get away from the distraction it caused. So, I squeezed, I put medicine, I changed the location of my ring–anything to make it go away. Then as I watched the gradual reduction the bump, I heard the Lord’s reprimand: How easily you get sidetracked, Carol. You let a little bump get in the way of our communion together. How can you judge the Israelites, about whom you’re reading in my Word, if you let a bump take your mind away?
So, I confessed my sin and immediately began thinking about all the other things I let distract me from keeping my focus on God’s will for my life. Many, I found, were just as frivolous as the bump on my finger — TV, the cat, chocolate, and sometimes just my wayward thoughts.
The Bible and history are so full of examples of those who have gone before us and kept the faith, maintaining their focus on Christ and His will. I want to strive to do the same to His glory.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on JESUS!”
Grace and Peace
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