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Distracting Distractions

On Saturday, my family went to the air show in Moose Jaw and it was great! To make things even better, most of my extended family and some other friends met us there too. All told, we had approximately 20 people in our entourage.

What was not so great, though, was trying to move that big group without losing people along the way. We would start walking and someone would stop to look at an airplane. Then someone else would stop to get a souvenir. A little farther along, one of us would run into someone they knew and would stand there and talk for a while. There were just a lot of things distract us.

Most of the time, distractions are not a big deal. However, a story from the life of Christ teaches that some distractions are much more serious.

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. However, Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’"(Luke 10:38-42).

Notice the words that describe Martha in this passage: Distracted, worried and upset about many things. Does that sound like your life? It sounds like mine at times. It is easy to become so busy that life looses its focus and its joy.

Notice, too, though that Martha was not doing anything “bad” or “wrong”. Running around and getting the house ready was a “good” thing, but listening to Jesus and paying attention to him, as Mary did, was the “better” thing.

The big danger in life is not that we end up doing terrible things, but that we get distracted from the “best things” – the things of God.

Being distracted at an air show means that it is going to take longer to get to where you want to go. Being distracted spiritually means that you may miss the destination altogether.

Do not allow “the good” things in life to distract you from “the best” thing.

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