Ditch the Distractions No More

I have a confession: I am not going to try to get rid of distractions.

A few days ago, I was feeling incredibly distracted for reasons that I couldn’t identify. Being slightly unable to focus or slow down or think clearly immediately threw me into that familiar space of guilt. All my life I have been told to remove distractions so that I can live well.

On this particular day, I ran across a very familiar story in the Bible. It is the story of the young boy Samuel found in 1 Samuel 3. In the story, Samuel is laying in bed and God calls his name. However, Samuel did not recognize that it was the Lord’s voice. This passage says that in those days the word of the Lord was rare and there were not many visions. It seems that God’s voice was not familiar to Samuel at this point in his life.

As I reflected on this, I asked myself the question, “What keeps me from hearing God’s voice?” I immediately thought of distractions. I thought of the distractions in my heart and in my mind. I thought of the distraction of my own voice. I thought of the distraction of the voices of the masses. I thought of the simple distractions of daily living and responsibilities and emotions.

It occurs to me that hearing the voice of the Lord is about knowing the voice of the Lord.  It has been ingrained in me somehow that hearing God’s voice is about being still and quiet and not allowing distractions to take over. I am calling this notion out today as a bunch of bunk, once and for all.

It is not so much about getting rid of the distractions in order to hear God‘s voice. The real beauty comes in knowing God‘s voice in the midst of the distractions. I don’t have to work for the distractions to go away. I do not have to feel guilty when I am distracted. I just need to know the voice of the Lord in the midst of the distractions.

What a frustrating battle to attempt to eliminate distractions. There will always be so many voices . . . mine, others. There will always be so many emotions . . .  mine, others. There will always be so many choices and so many opportunities.

Distractions could be categorized as all the things that make up life - the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything belongs and everything is part of living. I am beginning to think that the real freedom comes when I am able to live at peace in the midst of all of it.

To let my mind wander

     . . . and to allow the voice of God to break through.

To step out and take action

     . . . and to allow God to pull me back if necessary.

To feel the anger or the passion or any other emotion

  . . . and  allow God to infuse meaning in it into it.

Today is a new day. I think I will release myself from the battle and shame of eliminating distractions and learn to see and hear and live in the midst of all of it. Maybe you’d like to join me.

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Be Still My Soul with Set the Pace