Grace full mama

We live in a world that is overrun with cheap substitutes for the real thing. At this point, I’m not even sure it really matters what the real thing is… think of something real and substantial, and I bet there is a substitute for it. There are substitutions for “real” food, real entertainment, real connection, and real work.

We all have a sin nature that resides within us. If we are picking up our cross and following Jesus, that sin nature dies daily, but it takes work! I don’t know about you, but I didn’t miraculously become free from sin when I was baptised and buried the old man. That can only come from a daily baptism, a daily picking up the cross, a daily intentionality. And we have an enemy who is absolutely intent on distracting us.

The truth is we are all starving. We are starving for connection with Jesus, and with each other. We want to be completely known and completely loved, that is what we are searching for from our very depths. It is what a lot of us hope to get out of our marriage, even if we don’t realise it. We are starving, thirsting, desperate on the inside, a shrivelled soul that is in need of water like a parched plant starting to brown in the sun. And so, the enemy places a mirage in front of us. Sparkling water, palm trees, a beautiful beach scene that winks at us. We chase it. Sometimes we delude ourselves that we have reached it. We are so distracted that we don’t realise our parched soul is still dying.

We live in the digital age. Tinder, facebook, netflix… distractions bombard us mercilessly. We have digital friendships. We sit there with our spouse and watch someone else’s story unfold on a giant screen, and don’t understand why we go to bed still feeling unconnected and unseen. How many people do you know who can’t help but look at their phone when you are trying to share your heart with them? How many times have you done it? I promise that your e mails, research, and social media can wait. The person in front of you (especially your spouse) might not be able to.

We get in the car and blast music or podcasts. We take our phones with us everywhere. We don’t give them the boundaries that we would give anyone else outside of our marriage. We don’t turn it off at 8:00 so we have time to focus on what matters. There are no visiting hours. We turn the TV on at night, not knowing what we want to watch, just scrolling the titles for a sufficient distraction before we fall asleep.

What are we so busy distracting ourselves from? We have forgotten what real connection looks like. We don’t leave space, quiet, for God to speak. My friends, in all the distraction, we have become lazy and passive connectors. I see this most in relationship with God.

While the music is blaring and our senses are overwhelmed, we say something half heartedly to God, half distracted, half listening. And then we blame him that we didn’t hear him. We pray distractedly. We connect distractedly. We have been chasing mirages and then blaming HIM that our thirst isn’t quenched. We have become uncomfortable with the silence that is necessary in order to really, truly hear him.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. Jeremiah 29:13

It doesn’t say anywhere that we will find him when we halfheartedly ask him to speak to us in the middle of our busy distracted state. This has to be wholehearted. He demands all of us. And the reward, my friends, is REAL. Real thirst quenching connection and infilling.

I am going to do some serious seeking about how to stop running to distraction for comfort. I am going to change whatever I need to in order to bring the real back into my life and stop chasing mirages. I am going to let there be silence, and seek with my whole heart. This life is too short to be so distracted that I miss the growth and connection Jesus has for me!

Let’s embrace real. Let’s cut out distractions. If we stop distracting ourselves from our life and start really living it, I wonder how meaningful and beautiful it will be? Let’s see!