Be Present Where You Are

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. Alexander Graham bell

I recently heard about a tragic, head on collision in which a driver was text messaging while driving. I’ve heard several similar stories. The why questions (some of them seemingly unanswerable) and the errors that seem so obvious after the fact churned in my thoughts. Errors of distraction like these seem obvious, avoidable, and easy to judge.

Eventually, my train of thought took me to another kind of err in judgment. What about the more ambiguous results of distraction?

It is no secret that my focus needs fine tuning. Alright, sometimes I’m not even on the right station. I catch myself thinking about what I’ve got to do at work when I’m at home and about all kinds of things at home while I’m working. No matter what I’m doing, it seems one buzz of the phone can transport me to any number of other areas of thought.

My “quiet time” and prayer time are not immune to distractions. In fact sometimes deciding to participate in these uninterrupted and focused snippets of time is just asking for trouble. I can be focused and less distracted, but it takes effort.

Even Jesus’ disciples had problems like these. In Matthew 26:36-40 for example:

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

When I’m praying, and my mind is playing back tapes of the day rather than focusing on the privilege at hand, how does this change the results? When I’m with my family and my unfocused mind takes me elsewhere, I am missing something, perhaps even altering the course of events. If I’m working and my mind is working on something else, I am clearly not doing the best job that I could be doing.

The work of our hands and the desires of the heart, planted and tended by a powerful God with a still quiet voice, require my attention. He is continually speaking, guiding, and directing me. I wonder how many times I’ve missed it because of busy-ness. Distractions, on the other hand, fall like assorted sizes of hail stones. Some are more damaging than others but it is unlikely I’d be hit by one and not notice.

If a driver can miss a car coming head-on towards them because of distraction then I could certainly miss an answer to prayer. What blessings have slipped past me without my noticing? How many opportunities to be a blessing have evaporated because of inattention?

Easter is a good season for new beginnings. I will be making a conscious effort to be present where I am and to watch for His hand in the details. Thankfully, His compassions are made new every morning.