Distractions!

𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤! They pop up like so many unwanted interruptions throughout our day! I don’t know about you but the minute I settle down, with a cup of hot tea, and hour of my time, and a determination to spend that with the Father, a million distractions will fall from the ceiling!

Facebook, a phone call, what’s for dinner, I wonder what my daughter is doing today, don’t forget the taxes! On and on like ping pong balls bouncing off the walls! Somedays anxiety creeps in as a distraction – those ‘what happens if’ thoughts! Before I know it half an hour has passed as I spun endlessly down the rabbit hole.

Jesus tells us a story in Matthew all about soil. An interesting story and right in the heart of it is a verse about distractions. “𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍.” ( Matthew 13:22).

The farmer sowed good seed, but some fell among the thorns and the thorns strangled the seeds. Distractions, like thorns, will choke us and cause us to be unfruitful! The cares of the world, anxiety about the future, worry about success, the amount of money earned, will all be diversions from our goal. Drawing nearer to our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

How do we stop the ping pong balls from falling? The distractions from sucking up our time? Perhaps we simply need to turn our phone off, take every thought captive when it comes again and again, perhaps a worship song will ground us. Often I speak my prayers out loud as it seems when they are spoken in my head those squirrels will invade!

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? I would love to hear them as my desire is to be fruitful and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in those precious times with Him!