Lessons from a Baby #9: Who Gets Your Attention?

Have you ever said something and realized, almost at the very moment the words were coming out of your mouth, that what you were saying had a meaning beyond the subject you were talking about?  Sometimes I will say something quite ordinary that turns out to be one of those phrases about which I can say, "That'll preach!"

I had one such moment this past weekend.  Our darling Bella, who gets to be the subject of so many of my blog posts, is a busy toddler.  There is so much for her to see and do that we don't get much cuddle time with her anymore.  The rarity of her hugs and kisses makes them precious - especially when they are given without request.

She was busy on Saturday morning, playing with her toys, checking out the pantry, looking out the window, and babbling on about something, when my husband asked her for a hug.  She stopped what she was doing, reached up for him, and wrapped her little arms around his neck.  "Aww, thank you!" he said and put her back down on the floor.  Emboldened by his success, I asked for a hug too, but little miss said, "No" in her tiny little voice and toddled off into the kitchen.

"Wait a minute!" I said.  "I feed you and I change your diapers and he gets the hug?"  Before the last word left my mouth, the Holy Spirit had already stopped on that thought.  "How many of your needs has God supplied and who gets your time and attention?"

I had to admit that more of my focus is given to the things of the world, the petty details of daily life, and my own amusement than is invested in the things of God.  I find myself preferring to be entertained by things that have no value than to spend time in the presence of my Father. The enemy's greatest tool in the life of a Christian is not to draw us into gross immorality.  He merely has to distract us from our life in the kingdom, make us prayerless and thus powerless.  When we stop pursuing Jesus, it's a slow drawing away that can leave us in a place we never would have chosen to go willingly, though it's those daily choices that we "will" that take us there. 

So today I vow to set my affection and attention where it belongs.

Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." 

That's where I'll start - by remembering where I belong and who deserves my focus.  I won't do it perfectly, but I won't use that as an excuse to stop trying.