Distracted.
I don’t know a single person who is not constantly distracted. It’s become a rare treasure to find someone who doesn’t live a life distracted by all the things. Distracted by busyness, social media, phones, striving, all the problems in our country, problems abroad, ungratefulness, comparison, fear…the list could go on forever.
We’ve become one nation distracted.
What a brilliant tactic of the enemy…well, not really brilliant, but easy.
As the Lord has been consistently changing me and reprioritizing my life, I find myself constantly praying, “Lord, I want my mind back. I want to know what I think and how I feel, not how others think I should.” As I hold my phone in my hand, I hate it. I despise the fact that at the current moment, I can hardly go through a couple of hours, much less the day without my phone…partly because where we live, there is no possibility of internet, so I must use my hot spot to do school with the kids and any research. My life feels tethered to this small rectangle that feels like it’s ruining my ability to have undistracted time.
This year, I want to break up with my phone. I’m praying we finally get to move this year, and in doing so, can have internet at our home. I’m also wanting to find other ways to fill the gaps that a phone so easily seems to fill. My phone is not my friend. Social media doesn’t make me less lonely, no, it amplifies loneliness. I want real life. Real connection. I want to sit at our dinner table with people and talk about something or nothing for hours while we eat good food and laugh a lot. I want to sit at my piano and worship, both alone and with others, and host the Presence of God through undistracted times of worship. I want to know people…and be known by them. I want to know myself.
As a child, born in the 70’s, I never imagined a world like we have today. It was a slow fade, that’s for certain. Once we were riding bikes all over creation, now kids hardly go outdoors. Partly due to safety, partly due to being tethered to devices and partly due to convenience. I want to see my children restored. When we step away from all the devices, it’s amazing how quickly creativity begins to re-emerge within them.
It’s like the power struggle of the ages…holding onto real life, while the world is cramming counterfeits down our throat at a breakneck speed.
It’s time to resurrect wholeness.
God, restore wholeness to my life. Remove all distraction from within me, that I may be fully devoted to You. Forgive me for giving parts of myself to these distractions. Protect me, even from myself. Lead me into creativity and imagination. Restore my family’s connections. Restore all of our views of what real life is supposed to be. Lead us into wholeness with You, both now and forevermore. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Teach me Your way, Lord, that I may rely on Your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. I will praise You, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead. Psalm 86:11-13
365 Days in the Presence 