Distractions

I spent my day in the hotel yesterday while Al was off working his trade show, or expo, or whatever it was called.  It was a rainy day, so a good day to be indoors with the books I had brought with me.  In addition to the books to read, I had also brought some Bible study materials with the intention of beginning to prepare for my next turn in our Life Group teaching rotation.

But, I got a little distracted.

It was a little hard to focus in a room as nice as this one.

Of course, if I had been at home, there would also have been distractions.  The view.  Chores to be done.  A dog to be walked.  Any number of things could have distracted me.

In fact, on one day recently, I found myself distracted by a spider web!  On that particular day, I sat down to do my Bible study and when I glanced up from the page, I noticed a small spider web in the corner.  I thought to myself, I need to take care of that when I finish here.  But I kept glancing up at that spider web; my concentration was completely gone and all I could think of was that spider web.  So I decided to get up and take care of it right then.  Which led to going on a spider web hunt throughout the house, searching every nook and cranny for more of the dreaded webs.  I didn't find any more, but the damage was done.  My focus was lost.  I was distracted.

Yesterday was much the same, although this time I was distracted, not by spider webs, but by my surroundings, and I had a hard time focusing on the tasks I had set for myself.

There's always something to distract us, isn't there?  A nice hotel room.  A spider web. The sound of raindrops falling on the window.  A TV show.  Social media.  Being tired.  Or being hungry.  Or the list could go on and on.

It's wonderful to have a nice hotel room or a nice front porch or some other really great place to relax.  It's great to have a beautiful view or a nice breeze or even the sound of rain falling.  And there's nothing inherently wrong with social media.  That's a great way to stay connected with family and friends.

But sometimes we need to discipline ourselves to ignore all that for a bit and focus on the task at hand, whatever it may be.  In my case a few weeks ago, I needed to ignore that spider web for a little longer.  Yesterday, I needed to tune out all the distractions.  To discipline myself.  To focus.

I managed to do just that.  And I'm glad I did.  I finished one of the books I had brought with me (See You at the Finish Line by my pastor, Dr. Don Wilton) and began another (Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi).  Both are highly recommended!  And I made good progress on my study in Hebrews. 

It was a good day, in spite of my distractions!

What's distracting you?

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it."  (Hebrews 2:1 ESV)

"Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness."  (1 Timothy 4:7b NASB)