“Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,” Hebrews 12:2a
I organized a Moms Bible Study one summer. We met at a park every week, and the children played while we focused on Scripture.
Or, we tried to focus on Scripture.
The last day we met, we settled at our picnic table and began the opening prayer.
The dedicated city worker who diligently mowed the park suddenly had the inspiration to mow around the pavilion which covered our picnic table. (My voice is on the softer side and was no competition for the mower!)
After several false starts because of various interruptions, (the mower, children needing Mommy to mediate, bathroom breaks, and side-tracked conversations), we were finally ready to begin.
Just as I picked up my printed devotional, our blessed mower blazed back, intently mowing the lawn surrounding the nearby trees.
This scenario played out several more times. Finally, all grew quieter, and someone asked me what we were supposed to be discussing today: Distractions.
Have you ever had a day when, no matter how you planned it, replanned it, and re- replanned it, you missed your devotion or prayer time for the day?
And when you finally got to it a few days later, you realized the originally scheduled reading date was the date you should have, needed to have read it?
Sometimes, Satan senses when we really need encouragement. He seizes every opportunity to distract us from God’s truth, God’s promises, God’s encouragement.
We can’t always eliminate distraction. But we can remind ourselves to return to God whenever we have been side-tracked.
What about we moms at the park? Eventually the mowing was completed and as one mom astutely pointed out, “We’ll just keep coming back to it until we’ve refocused.”
The point was not how many attempts it took, the point was our diligence in returning again and again until we completed the study.
God rewards obedience and He appreciates our endeavors to overcome obstacles.
The key is to fix our eyes on Him, not all the obstacles obscuring our view of Him.
After we moms completed that Bible Study, we dispersed into the rest of our own agendas. Yes, we did leave a little later than usual, but all the kids were played out and tired, our souls were filled and our spirits content as we had persevered until we had spent time with Jesus.
Wherever you are today, maybe sleep-deprived from caring for a newborn, or pushing a deadline, an overwhelming agenda staring you down or just plain too much on your plate for your own good, please know connecting with Christ is always time well-spent- even when, especially when, it takes many attempts.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that You don’t give up on me. Please encourage me in pursuing You. You promise to draw nearer to me as I draw nearer to You. Please remind me of that. Thank You for always providing what I need, when I need it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.