I Get Distracted….What About You?

Today I had an epiphany, I get distracted a lot….a whole lot.  I mean, I have these plans for my day or my week or for a meeting, and all of a sudden something else has drawn my attention.  One of my co-workers said it best about me, “You get distracted by shiny objects.”  I realized today, they don’t have to be shiny to distract me. It could be a song on the radio or a video game or an email, and while none of those things are bad, if they are keeping you or me from our God-given purpose, they need to be minimized or eliminated.  I don’t mean you can never listen to the radio or play a video game or read email, I mean they need to be given the proper priority and put in their proper place.  

I know this sounds insane given the world we currently live in.  I know I feel almost lost without my phone where I can check text messages and my email, but the fact is that most of the text messages and emails can wait until a planned task is completed.   More than anything, I need to make plans and stick to them.  What usually happens is I get distracted by something other than what I’m doing, I go down a rabbit hole, and I still have to come back to whatever I was doing initially.  This ultimately takes more time away from other equally important things.  

For me, that means I have to focus and remove the distractions I can when I’m working on important projects.  If I don’t, the project just takes longer and ultimately, I’m the one who suffers as a result.  This applies to reading my bible, cooking dinner, reading a book, cleaning house, writing, etc.  I’ve got to gain some discipline to ensure I’m working and living smarter instead of harder.  Jesus came that we might have life and it more abundantly….all aspects of life (John 10:10).  He doesn’t want us to struggle, especially with things we have the power to change.  That doesn’t mean we won’t have hard times, but even in those, He’s there to lead and guide us in the way we should go while He’s working out the situation for our good (Romans 8:28).  I’ve said before that He will not do for me what I can do for myself.  I say this because, a lot of times, someone will say I need to pray about this or that, and really we just need to act.  Do what is right to do….there is no need for confirmation when you know the answer.  Just do it.  

For the past few weeks, I’ve been putting this blog up late on Sunday night, which in turn caused me to be up later than I should and not get a good night’s sleep before starting the work week on Monday mornings.  Today, I was determined to get the blog up before dinner time and I'm gonna reach that goal.   So, I still might get distracted by something else that keeps me up, but my intent is not to.  I turned off the TV and put down my tablet and phone and started writing.  I’m working on making this a habit.  We’ll see how it shakes out, because we’re striving for progress and consistency.  

We all have a purpose and assignments.  Are you giving them your full attention….your best?  I pray you will take a look at your life and discern the distractions keeping you from the getting the important things done.  God deserves better!