Staying Connected

Have you ever had times where you wanted to spend time with the Lord, you wanted to be in the Word and in prayer, but your mind was taking you a million other directions? You were bombarded by the endless to-do list or replaying all the things that happened in the last week or thinking about something else you needed to be doing? The list of distractions could go on and on.

In those moments when we are setting aside time to be with the Lord, but we can’t get our minds to focus; we are battling all the distractions, and are unable to wrangle the never ending thoughts. We have to stop and think about why? Why are we so distracted in those moments?

I believe the distraction in our tent times can sometimes stem from us allowing distractions in our everyday moments. Throughout our days we are making decisions that lead into distraction over connection with the Lord.

For example, in your down time when you have a free minute, are you grabbing your phone to scroll social media? In the evenings before you go to sleep, are you watching a few hours of TV? When you’re sitting in your car waiting for your grocery pick up, are you grabbing that phone again for some more scrolling?

Or instead of resting in His truth and seeking Him in the quiet moments of your day, do you find yourself filling the quiet moments with anxious thoughts about all the things you have to be doing? Are you filling every moment of your day with things to be done and staying so busy that it is a distraction from the connection with the Lord?

All of these little moments of quiet, where we could take a moment to breathe and reflect on the day and what the Lord is doing, to thank Him and to pray, to seek His wisdom and direction: moments when we can read a few Ipassages of scripture and renew and refresh our minds and worship Him, we are choosing to distract ourselves instead.

It seems innocent enough, we have our tent time in the morning, and then move on with our day. But we have to keep that connection going all throughout our day.

We are in a relationship with the Lord, and we need to be making the conscious decisions throughout our day that lead to connection with Him, not distraction.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

It is crucial that we abide in Him throughout our entire day. Choosing to shift our focus when our mind wants to wander into the endless to do lists or to the distractions will keep us abiding in Him. Through that abiding, we will become more and more fruitful. The less distracted we are, the more useful we become for the kingdom.

Our faith grows in those quiet moments of obedience. It may seem like a small thing, to choose a few minutes of prayer and worship over a few minutes of scrolling, but those small steps lead us to big faith. When we keep that connection throughout our day, our tent times are even more fruitful because they are being built upon a strong intimacy and connection with the Father.

In Psalm 119:37 it says to turn our eyes away from worthless things and to ask the Lord for life in His ways. When we do this we are revived according to His righteousness. This happens in our everyday moments of choosing to turn our eyes from the desires of our flesh and look to the author and perfector of our faith.

Of course we will have times when it’s hard to stay focused and we feel distracted, but those times will become less and less when we are making intentional choices to draw closer to Him throughout our day.

So the next time you find yourself with some down time or a moment of quiet, instead of reaching for your phone or turning on the TV or anxiously thinking through your endless to-do list, take a moment to acknowledge the Lord and seek your refreshment from Him instead. Choose connection over distraction and allow Him to strengthen and uplift you.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29