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Interrupted by ... A SQUIRREL!


Clarke was reading my latest blog on his iPad at the kitchen window this past week and I was anxiously waiting for his comments…if any.  It was taking an awfully long time!  Finally he said, “I can’t concentrate. That squirrel keeps interrupting me!”

Now ‘that squirrel’ was on the other side of the closed window. However given that the sun was shining and the temperature was hovering just under the freezing point, three squirrels, thinking it was Spring, were playing chase, darting up to the window and away. Jokingly, I said, “I could write a blog about this!” and then I began to think…..

“How often do extraneous things divert us from doing what we plan? How often do we stop doing something for just an instant, never to take it up again? How often does that momentary distraction take us away from our path?”I suspect it has happened to all of us from time to time. One of the best know cases of being distracted, is when Jesus, in the story of Martha and Mary [Luke 10:38-42], says to Martha, who is busy rushing around getting the meal prepared, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.”

We let ourselves get so easily distracted from what is important by the unimportant. Now, I happen to believe that those those pesky squirrels who were running about, proclaiming that Spring had actually peeked through momentarily, were the important things in the above scenario. So not only do we let ourselves get distracted from the important by the unimportant, we can’t even recognize which is which most of the time!

And this led me to wonder where else this happens in my life? Where else do I confuse the important with the unimportant? Is it important whether there was or wasn't a virgin birth; whether Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians or if it is pseudographical; if Peter actually walked on water or not? And I could go on and on….

Perhaps like with squirrels, it is not what actually happened so much as what it is pointing to. The squirrels were pointing to the imminent arrival of Spring after a hard winter. The questions above and others like them point to larger truths as well. Truths like trust, love, compassion and justice. Truths I so often push aside in favour of the more concrete, the more visible, and yes, the more readily acceptable.

In this society we live in, where the important thing seems to how busy we all are, will you take a few minutes this week to focus on the unimportant, the non-concrete, the ‘socially’ unacceptable, to look a little harder for that really important thing you might be missing?

Comments

  1. orangefatcatApril 2, 2014 at 12:21 PM

    what an interesting blog Lynn, i agree, we can easily be distracted from that which is important in life. Sometimes we are not aware of how easy it is to be side tracked. I often find this happens to me in prayer, I start praying to God and then from some reason other thoughts enter my mind and for some reason I am another line of thought and then I realize what on earth I am doing. I am glad that our loving God is patient with us in this respect. Sometimes I often wonder when we are distracted how dangerous it can be, for example when a person uses there mobile cells while driving and it is a good thing that the Ministry of Transportation now says it is an offence and one is charges because it has often lead to automobile accidents with either severe damage or death to the driver or someone else.
    I appreciate you statements of when Jesus was with Mary and Martha, and about Peter or other matters in the scriptures. Sometimes sitting in church one can be distracted by sounds around us or when the priest is administering the Holy Sacrements, people line up and often talk in line and it is often very distracting and quite truthfully in my opinion rude and disrespectful. Our focus should be on the matter at hand. I try to justify it by saying to myself that we are just being friendly however there is a time for being friendly after services not during services. Sometimes after communion when people return to their seats they are talking it is most distracting.
    We all love squirrels and chipmunks and look forward with such anticipation to spring that we can get lost with a realm of our own and not even realize it. We all do it because it is only human. I mean who doesn't love to watch the animal play and chase one another or if we see a few birds on the ground chirping and or even in a birdbath or bird feeder we are intrigued by it. However if something we are suppose to be doing is more important at that moment we need to train ourselves and discipline ourselves from being side tracked, and that is by no means an easy task.
    I can recall a time when driving down a country road when I took my eyes off the road as I saw a beautiful deer and because of this distraction I nearly ended up in a ditch. This could have been detrimental but thankfully I was all right.
    Your blog has certainly made a lot of sense and i really enjoy the tremendous thoughts you prepare when you blog. Today's subject was great.

    Thanks Lynn for sharing.

    Shalom, Terry

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