Distractions

  Recently it was recommended to me that I should try some deep breathing exercises.  Being that my life is very busy (hence the reason for needing the deep breathing), I decided to try it for one minute a day and to work my way up from there.  I am now up to two minutes a day... sometimes... when I remember.  But today, when I sat down to do my very Zen two minutes, something hit me, quite literally actually; it was the dog's tail, whapping me in the face.  My phone then started buzzing; I thought about five things I wanted to do before I headed out the door, and I immediately moved on to something else.  Life 500, Deep Breathing 0.
  The truth of the matter is, there are so many distractions in this life, things that pull us off course, and cause us to loose sight of where we should really be heading.  And mind you, they are usually very good distractions:  housework, charities, helping out a friend or neighbor, or any number of things, and none of these in and of themselves are inherently bad, in fact, that's why we are usually thrown off course.  After all, we shouldn't say "no" to doing something good, right?
  Here's the thing, though.  When Jesus was on earth, He knew his purpose was to live a sinless life and go to the cross for our sins.  He also knew that in order to do this, He needed to step away and spend focused time with God each day.  That's why, in the scripture, we see examples of Him slipping away through the crowd to go to the mountain or the garden to pray. (Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12) There were plenty of people still needing healing, plenty of distractions and "good" things He could have done.  But He knew what was most important, and He took time to refocus Himself often.
  If you have been feeling a bit crazy lately, maybe overworked, overstressed, and overbooked, it's probably a good sign that you've gotten distracted.  It may be time to get alone, get quiet, and refocus on what you should be doing.  You can skip the deep breathing part... or maybe give it a shot, who knows, it just might help you.  Just don't get caught up trying to do all the good things.  There is always one more "good" thing which needs done.  But we need to choose what is most important.(Luke 10:41-42)  Take some time to reprioritize today.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.W.