don't be distracted

Day 10 of

We have three boys.  Three awesome, crazy, beautiful blond haired boys.  Two of them talk, A LOT.  I love it, I really do, but some days it's as if my body rebels because it has heard enough words and just can't take anymore.  Nothing else will fit in the space between my ears and my brain so I have subconsciously learned to just go about whatever I am doing, being able to block out the 'goings ons' around me.  While I absolutely feel this is a necessary mama tool that helps on those days when you need to hold on to the little sanity you have left, if left unchecked it becomes a problem.  

Those little boys still have words, and they are going to keep them coming. And I can miss funny, vital information, and needed parenting moments when I don't just turn on that sanity saving device in emergency situations.  When I allow it to become a part of my daily living, I begin to be permanently distracted from my job as a parent, and only focus on my job as a keeper of our home, and I miss what is waiting right there for me to see.  Those boys are some of my favorite things to see.

Distractions are everywhere, E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.  Our homes are a minefield of things that can take our attention away at any given moment. Stepping outside our homes into the world provides so many distractions that it hurts my head to even try to name them all.  There are men and women whose sole job is to create products and market products that will grab your attention and sway your thoughts. 

 When I visited Vegas for the first time this year for Zach's work conference, I got a first hand experience visiting places that are built and created to assist you in forgetting about realities in your life.  On a similar note, while we haven't yet made the pilgrimage to Orlando to visit the happiest place on Earth, I can imagine it can produce the same effects but in a more family appropriate atmosphere ;)

I promise I am not at all assuming we should all toss our smart phones, computers, tablets, apple products and TVs into a giant dumpster and begin living an Amish-like existence.  I am not saying advertisers are terrible people who just want to brainwash you, or that Disney World is of the devil because they are trying to convince you that, in comparison, you live a dull and unhappy life.  I'm just trying to make sure you know that anything, and I mean anything, can take your attention away from where it needs to be.

I say this because as I walk you through a few things that can turn your eyes away from the true Hope, I am really giving you a glimpse of the things that turn my eyes away, and just praying that maybe there is someone out there that needs to hear it too. 

 I am a (recovering) Type A, list making, stay busy so I don't have to think about it, hide from reality in books and movies, 'I'm good' faking, keep the peace, stuff it until it goes away, queen of distractability.  I would literally sit and listen to a friend share their struggles for hours, and encourage them to talk about it and pray about it and share with whoever it needed to be shared, and even share with them my own thoughts and struggles and so on.  However, in my own life, when it came down to it, I would much rather distract myself temporarily with other things and cling to the quick peace it brings, than cling to the unfailing Hope that I was adopted into.

We all have those things we immediately go to to provide a distraction.  Those distractions are so tempting because they are immediate; but just like that candy craving that produces a brief energetic sugar high, a crash follows almost immediately after, leaving you more lethargic than you were before.  

There were days. last year after the bomb went off, that I struggled internally and externally with facing what was going on in our lives.  Days where all I wanted was for it to go away or have never happened.  Days where I just wanted to pretend everything was 'good' and go about my life.  But thankfully, God provided many people and verses and pricks of my heart, and quite frankly the stamina to face it all, instead of hiding, and I can't be thankful enough for His grace in not letting me hide.

Zach and I have a LONG list of verses that we have read again and again this past year, and will forever be ingrained in our hearts because of what they mean to us now in the situation we have walked through.  One is to "Set your minds on things above and not on earthly things" (Col 3:2) because "while we look not at the things which are seen, but are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18)

Those things I use to pull away my attention and hide me away from reality also tear me away from my Father and the Hope He gives.

   Hiding in a fantasy world bubble of perfection that can burst at any moment can never compare to living a real, imperfect life with a Hope that never fails.