It's Like Not Even Being There...

I might as well not show up for my own life if I'm going to ignore it. I spend a lot of time losing sleep over the very things that used to seem so unimportant to me in the past. These things should not be so important to me, but I get distracted and lead a worried life.

I claim that I am a correspondance course teacher for a few students who email me the answers to their World Bible School lessons. I am supposed to reply fairly quickly, but I had been so busy worrying and avoiding the things that mattered, that I might as well leave the student wondering if I even exist. But that would not be a good thing.

We all go through times when we're not entirely focused on life. But life still goes on. Dirty laundry piles up, grass grows, and paint peels. Children grow, people live, and people die. Jesus did not want us to get distracted and get sucked into our own worries and our own little thoughts in our own little world.

One of the things that I liked about last fall was that my worries were different. I was worried a great deal about Louisiana and the ongoing reconstruction efforts. I was concerned about whether I was supposed to be there, and I spent a lot of time thinking about other people as a result. Granted, I had a lot of things in my life to handle and be concerned with, and those things required my attention just like anything else. It was okay to deal with these things and continue to move along in life. The thing that concerned me a couple of weeks ago was the way that distracted period swallowed up all of my attention and left me feeling hollow.

When I was concerned about others, I think I had things right in my life. I believe that Jesus wants us to be concerned about others. He tells us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow" (Matthew 6: 33-34). If we are busy in the present, paying attention to what God places before us, and if we pay attention to the blessings He sends our way, from awareness about our world to awareness about His presence in our hearts, I think the other things tend to fall into place.

It's been a long time since I put that notion back in the forefront of my mind. It's been a long time since I put my attention and my focus back on the Kingdom of God. I remember what it felt like--it felt like being free.

Now I just want to get back to that again. It might not be easy to get the ball rolling, but I believe it will be worth it.