If you don't change your direction, you'll end up exactly where you're going.

It seems like this week is an appropriate week to put my podcasts on rewind. It was about two years ago, in August, long before Covid, long before traveling to Africa and other changes of focus in my life when I first heard a sermon called "Helter, Skelter", which I will link at the bottom of this post. It's not a deep, theological message, but it is exactly what I needed to hear two years ago. I'm not going to pretend to you that I have not lived my life helter skelter between then and now. However, it did spur some new thinking and habits in my life to be more intentional about where I focus my attention, even in the midst of chaos.

What has your attention today? What has your attention right now? The single most valuable currency you have that you can spend in any given day is not the money in your bank account. It is your attention. If you don't believe that, think about this. What is the currency that most major tech companies today in the United States use to value themselves? It's your attention. What do you think makes that app "free" that you install on your phone? What are you spending your attention on? If you continue spending your time on whatever that is day in and day out for 5 years, what do you possess at the end of that five years? Do you posses anything greater, or does something possess you with a greater power than it does today?

Luke 10: 38-40, ³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But 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!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

What was happening at that point in time and why did Jesus scold Martha for being busy in the kitchen? Jesus had come to save the whole world and was here on earth for a short period of time to raise the first generation of followers who would begin this work of building His Kingdom. At that moment, Martha was focused on preparing for the next dinner party and all Mary would do is sit at Jesus feet. Jesus at that moment had a teaching moment for Martha and for us all on being intentional about where we focus our time at any given moment.

Jesus said. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." Jesus came to save the world, but He didn't do so by being "busy". He was going to weddings, turning water into wine, stopping his disciples to say "Let the children come to me." Stopping to speak to the woman who was healed after years of bleeding by simply touching his garment. Stopping and talking to the poor cripples begging for mercy along the way that most people avoided. Stopping and talking to those scorned by society, those caught in sin, those condemned to die. Even as He was dying, He turned to the man hanging next to him who cried out for mercy. He was in the moment. He wasn't too busy dying for the world to be in the moment and to save one more person. And He hasn't changed. He is not too busy for you.

"Being busy is a choice. Being busy is a state of mind. Being busy is a lie that you can get trapped into.."