Multi-Tasking | Wayfarer

You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.
Deuteronomy 5:33 (NRSV)

Some mornings as I read the chapter there is a message that is just for me; A word that speaks directly to the moment I am in at that particular waypoint on life’s journey. This morning was one of those mornings.

We are a fickle culture with short attention spans. What’s trending on Twitter today will be a long forgotten memory in a few days, or even hours. We are inundated with competing messages broadcast from countless media outlets and sources all vying for our attention. The result is that I am constantly distracted.

There is so much available to me at my finger tips through the myriad of screens in my life. If I don’t like this show I can switch to that channel, or watch YouTube, or Vimeo, or stream Netflix. If I’m bored with Facebook I can check Twitter, or Pinterest, or my blog reader. If I don’t like the music on Spotify, I can always look for a playlist on Amazon Prime or turn SonicTap on the television, or I can always go retro and actually turn on a radio. The opportunities for distraction are mind-numbingly endless.

How does this affect my spirit? My thinking? My life?

I fear that it is becoming far too easy for me to lose constancy, fidelity, and focus. When I spiritually experience an obstacle in life’s road, I immediately assume there’s an alternate route that will be faster and easier. Instead of sticking to the path to which I’m called, I’m distracted by all the other paths leading off to who knows where. Instead of focusing on the task at hand I’d rather focus on my iPhone, my iPad, my smart TV, or something else, and then another something else, and then another something else.

This morning, in the quiet of my home office, God whispered to my spirit: “Stay the course. Don’t turn to the right or left. Eyes on me.”