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… Mary has chosen the good part….

Luke 10:42

 

Good morning dear sister!

I pray that no matter what is going on in your life today, you are having a great day in the Lord! 

Doesn’t it seem that no matter who we are, nor how we plan our days, nor how organized we may be, we are a distracted people?

For example, I sat down today at 1pm, determined to spend a few minutes seeking the Lord about what I should write to you. It’s Monday and usually, if I haven’t yet gotten a nudge about a topic to write, I know I must seriously spend some time before the Lord, discerning something that might be relevant or edifying to you. 

Knowing this, I settled into my chair, quieted my mind…and listened. A few seconds later my phone beeps. “OK, I can ignore that”, I thought to myself. The cat wants to jump on my lap. I can ignore the cat. Then, Ted, who has been quietly toiling away in his office, comes into the room for a break! (I can’t ignore him!) Finally, hearing the office door open, Nutmeg rouses from her nap and starts staring at me. 

Ted, sensing my need for quiet, goes into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. A nice, hot cuppa tea sounds pretty good, so I follow him to make my own. Oh, I need to refill the kettle… I might as well empty the dishwasher while I’m waiting for the water to boil…. and clean up these dishes. I’m finally back in my chair with my cuppa and a half hour has gone by! So much for my undistracted time before the Lord!

I wonder if anything like that ever happens to you?

The Oxford dictionary defines distraction as “unable to concentrate because one’s mind is preoccupied”. I find that to be true for myself. Many of us have convinced ourselves that we are good at multi-tasking and accomplishing much with efficiency. (Oh yes, surely I can empty the dishwasher and ‘seriously’ give the Lord my attentive ear at the same time!) I challenge you to see if your husband thinks that’s true for you. Or your child. (ouch!) Children seem to be especially perceptive of when they aren’t receiving your full attention.

If that’s true of children, how much more is it true of God? (ugh, my phone just went off again! I’m going to ignore it!)

The word distraction appears only once in my Bible. (NASB) Luke 11:40 …”but Martha was distracted with all her preparations…” Poor Martha, she can neither concentrate wholly on her preparations nor on listening to the words of the Lord. She grows frustrated and complains to Jesus. 

Can you imagine having a chance to listen and talk to Jesus and you spend it complaining to Him?? Wait, sometimes we do just that, may the Lord forgive us.

Many of the verses in the Bible relate distraction with temptation, and we can see from Martha’s example that she may have been tempted to show off her hospitality or culinary skills to her Lord. Then, her frustration tempted her to complain to the very person she was trying to heartily serve! Even though she had the best intentions and was trying her best to do what she thought right, her distraction led to frustration.. 

Take heart! There is no condemnation in Christ! Jesus didn’t condemn Martha, and neither does He condemn us. But He does offer wise counsel. We are distracted by many things, but only a few things are necessary, and really only one, God’s truth, which will never be taken away. When we allow ourselves to be distracted, we miss out on God’s best for us.

Be encouraged, dear sister! Every day we have new opportunities to grow into the children, the servants, that bring honor and glory to Him! Spending a little time wholly devoted to Him, oblivious to all distractions, will reap holy benefits beyond comparison of anything we can accomplish in this world.

So, my dear sister, why not try to make it a goal to have some undistracted time with the Lord? 

With love, your sister, Celeste