The Price of a Distraction
I remember a trip in the car. My wife Cathy and I were driving with our daughter. She was in college at the time, always in need of some extra funds. We were driving her car that day so I offered to stop and put a few dollars of gas in in her tank. It’s one of those dad things you do.
As I am the pumping the gas (it’s all self-service where we live), she rolls down the window and starts to engage me in conversation. I thought, that’s nice, my daughter rolled down the window just to talk to her dad. Within a few seconds she had me actively engaged…and totally distracted! A few minutes later I turned my head and realized the gas had continued pumping. As I went ahhhh and tried to shut the gas off, she started laughing and laughing. I turned back and said “Did you purposely distract me?” Her response, “Of course!” Well, I have to give her kudos for creative problem solving. She got her tank filled up for free!
That distraction cost me about 20 bucks. Even though my 20 went to a worthy cause, the incident does remind us there is a price to pay for distractions.
Are there distractions in your daily life preventing you from experiencing the spiritual growth you desire? If so what are they? Often it is the small distractions throughout the day that keep us from being spiritually productive. Over time those distractions add up and keep us from realizing our greatest spiritual dreams. All distractions come with a price.
Try this. At the beginning of each day, decide what you want to accomplish spiritually that day. Maybe it is pray, or read the Bible, or listen to a sermon. Then set aside the time necessary to accomplish what you desire spiritually. During that time, allow no distractions. No emails, no phone calls, no web surfing, no social media checking, and no one interrupting you. Even if you can only spare 15 minutes, make those 15 minutes count.
Remember during that block of time give your 100% attention and focus to the spiritual task at hand. You will be amazed at the amount you can accomplish spiritually in a distraction free block of time. String a few of these distraction free blocks of time throughout each week and you are on your way to significantly increased spiritual growth.
