Today I decided to do my devotional from the Bible Journaling Ministries (www.biblejournalingministries.com) Momentum Series, “Never too Busy”. Tracie Rollins does a fantastic job in presenting devotional material and she is so down to earth…I just love the things she presents. This series is all about keeping your focus on the main thing … Jesus. Today we dealt with being distracted. Boy, did that hit home! Today we focused on I Corinthians 7:35, “This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.”
I am so easily distracted. It doesn’t take much. I am drawn to TV and Facebook like a magnet, to the point that nothing gets accomplished in my day. These are habits that I definitely need to break. The problem is, Facebook is my means of keeping up with family, and it helps us all stay connected, but then I end up looking through my page to see who has left me a little tidbit to look at, and before you know it, a couple of hours are gone. Then I get hooked on a TV program, and I’ve wasted another part of my day.
In reading through the devotional, I started to ask, how is it that I am so easily distracted? Boredom plays a large part of it. That, and the fact that I’d rather be on the computer than doing anything else, which seems to be my main problem. We gravitate to the things that we would rather be doing instead of things we really need to be doing. Unfortunately, getting together with the Lord isn’t part of the first category. I am ashamed to admit that, but that is the main thrust of it.
So, I have to take myself to task. I find myself ignoring my time with God, and that can only result in a broken relationship with Him. Then when I find myself in that situation, I have to come to Him and repent and try to start all over again.
Do you have this problem? I gather most people do. It is so easy to be distracted in today’s world. Our society is so fast paced, everything is instantaneous with computers and cell phones and other things that can bring distractions. When I was a kid, we didn’t have computers and I-Pads to pull us away from important things. But even then, we could find things to do to take us away from what we needed to do.
I must admit, Bible Journaling has really helped me in this area. I’m a lot better than I used to be at finding time to have a quiet time with God. Expressing what I’m learning through being creative in my journaling has helped me focus on what it is He wants me to know. God gave each of us a creative side, whether we realize it or not. I am far from being an artist. In fact, I almost flunked art classes in school …. couldn’t draw a straight line to save my life. But God directed me to Bible Journaling and showed me that my artwork doesn’t have to be gallery perfect, but that it is all about the time I spend with Him, and what it is He is teaching me. Journaling through artwork helps me retain it so much better. I have always been a note-taker during sermons. Writing it down helps me remember. The neat thing with my Journaling Bibles is that I can go back and see where I am compared to when I started…that brings those lessons back to remembrance.
This is not an easy thing to conquer, as it is with most things that are really important and bring the greatest satisfaction, but I know that I have Jesus to help me, and with the two of us working on this, I will eventually win the battle.
donnasmusings 