Thanksgiving is just around the corner and the anticipation of family and friends gathering Is a welcoming reality. We will embrace the time given to those who arrive by plane, train and car to celebrate a season set aside to giving thanks together for God’s daily blessings.
I pulled into John Wayne Airport last week to pick up my youngest daughter, arriving from a week’s visit in Texas with her best friend. As I waited patiently, in my car, I observed scurrying individuals attempting to make their connection with those of us in a long line, each of us scouting for our peep! Without exception, every single person had phone in hand. Some were talking, some were listening, some were seated playing a game…but all were distracted and pre-occupied with something more important than the task at hand.
It occurred to me that distraction had become the enemy. The TSA workers were being hindered in their job of keeping the line moving by boarders consumed with the more important priority of a disrupting phone conversation! How can one be attentive to the task at hand and distracted at the same time…it is an impossible conundrum! “A wise person will hear and will increase learning.”
Attentiveness is showing the worth of a person by giving undivided concentration to his words. How many times do we call the name of our child and have them not respond? Who gets priority when your husband calls your name and you are on the phone? What about your quiet time? Do you take the interruption and answer your phone or do you give a “hearing heart” and listen to the voice of God speaking to you through His Word? Those who listen best (undistracted) learn most. “Attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings.” (Proverbs 4:20)
Thanksgiving gatherings are premier occasions for our laying all distractions aside and showing support to those we value by looking at them when they are speaking to us, leaning forward into the conversation showing keen interest, sitting and standing up straight to show we value and respect the opinion of others and then, asking as many questions as we can (listening carefully to the answers).
“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something!”
(Wilson Misner)
I need to be more attentive this week…want to join me?
There is no time for distraction!
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
