A toddler boy in a park is easily distracted.
He begins by chasing a grasshopper and ends up on the swing. While he swings high in the air he notices a slide, and quickly commands his mother to stop pushing him and jumps off the swing to make his way to the slide. After zipping down the plastic slope, he sees a dog on the sidewalk and runs over to pet the dog's soft fur. He turns his head when the dog licks his face and notices a dandelion sitting high in the grass. He grabs the dandelion, blows the puff into the air and points at the white cloud nestled high in the sky. He hears a noise and turns to see his yellow dump truck sitting in a pile of sand and runs to push it around the play area.
Sometimes I feel like a toddler boy at a park. I too am easily distracted.
My plan for the morning includes spending time in God's Word. I want to make it a priority because I know that my soul craves plugging into God's power each day. I don't want to suffer the results on not spending time with God and missing out on the lessons that He wants to teach me.
However.
I get the kids to school and start a load of laundry. I open my Bible, and peruse a quick devotional, and remember that I have to send an e-mail. While I am sending the e-mail, the dryer buzzes, alerting me that the whites are finished drying and need to be folded.
As I am folding the laundry I see my Bible sitting open, ready to be absorbed, ready to instruct me. I finish folding the clothes and decide to then place the piles in the appropriate rooms instead of reading my Bible. I again remember the importance of starting my day in God’s Word and resist the temptation to turn on the television to watch a morning show. While I am reading God's Word, my hands feel dry and I go to the bathroom cupboard to squirt a drop of lotion onto my hands. I look in the cupboard and notice that it needs to be organized, and that some old toiletries need to be tossed into the garbage. I stop, and remember my Bible.
I sit down again and reread what I just read because the thoughts and words have quickly escaped me. I begin again, asking God to help me stay focused on Him and to resist the temptation to do other, less important chores.
The washer buzzes, I ignore it.
My mobile phone alerts me with a new text message, I ignore it.
My throat feels dry, I ignore it.
“Speak to me God. What do you want me to learn today?”
I read two verses and a short devotional in 10 minutes. Ten minutes. I felt filled. I felt ready to begin my day.
I focused, and as a result, I ignored the temptation to be distracted and a verse spoke to me: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
I am accountable for the life I live on earth, me, and no one else. My life, my actions, my reactions, need to reflect Jesus.
“Help me Lord to love you more, and be a reflection of you.”
Satan loves to distract us from God. He smiles when the dryer buzzer goes off and we remember that we have to send an e-mail in the midst of our time with God. He loves when give way to a distraction and forget what we just read from God’s Word.
I don’t want to make Satan smile.
I need to resist distractions more often.
He begins by chasing a grasshopper and ends up on the swing. While he swings high in the air he notices a slide, and quickly commands his mother to stop pushing him and jumps off the swing to make his way to the slide. After zipping down the plastic slope, he sees a dog on the sidewalk and runs over to pet the dog's soft fur. He turns his head when the dog licks his face and notices a dandelion sitting high in the grass. He grabs the dandelion, blows the puff into the air and points at the white cloud nestled high in the sky. He hears a noise and turns to see his yellow dump truck sitting in a pile of sand and runs to push it around the play area.
Sometimes I feel like a toddler boy at a park. I too am easily distracted.
My plan for the morning includes spending time in God's Word. I want to make it a priority because I know that my soul craves plugging into God's power each day. I don't want to suffer the results on not spending time with God and missing out on the lessons that He wants to teach me.
However.
I get the kids to school and start a load of laundry. I open my Bible, and peruse a quick devotional, and remember that I have to send an e-mail. While I am sending the e-mail, the dryer buzzes, alerting me that the whites are finished drying and need to be folded.
As I am folding the laundry I see my Bible sitting open, ready to be absorbed, ready to instruct me. I finish folding the clothes and decide to then place the piles in the appropriate rooms instead of reading my Bible. I again remember the importance of starting my day in God’s Word and resist the temptation to turn on the television to watch a morning show. While I am reading God's Word, my hands feel dry and I go to the bathroom cupboard to squirt a drop of lotion onto my hands. I look in the cupboard and notice that it needs to be organized, and that some old toiletries need to be tossed into the garbage. I stop, and remember my Bible.
I sit down again and reread what I just read because the thoughts and words have quickly escaped me. I begin again, asking God to help me stay focused on Him and to resist the temptation to do other, less important chores.
The washer buzzes, I ignore it.
My mobile phone alerts me with a new text message, I ignore it.
My throat feels dry, I ignore it.
“Speak to me God. What do you want me to learn today?”
I read two verses and a short devotional in 10 minutes. Ten minutes. I felt filled. I felt ready to begin my day.
I focused, and as a result, I ignored the temptation to be distracted and a verse spoke to me: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
I am accountable for the life I live on earth, me, and no one else. My life, my actions, my reactions, need to reflect Jesus.
“Help me Lord to love you more, and be a reflection of you.”
Satan loves to distract us from God. He smiles when the dryer buzzer goes off and we remember that we have to send an e-mail in the midst of our time with God. He loves when give way to a distraction and forget what we just read from God’s Word.
I don’t want to make Satan smile.
I need to resist distractions more often.
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