Paying Attention
Dear Friends,
Paying Attention is a challenge in my life. It is especially hard to pay attention to what matters. We had a really good conversation in our Cultivated Life Book discussion yesterday. At one point one of our members described their 20-year experience as a flight controller. In that job there are numerous inputs on many different levels. This person described that after awhile they developed an ability to pay attention to what was most important.
That seems like a huge comment to me. Cindy reminded us on Sunday that the issue is not the inability to pay attention, it is the challenge of paying attention to so many things at one time that we miss that which is most important. That was the gist of our text with Mary and Martha. Martha’s challenge was that she was paying attention to the many secondary things, and missing the most important. Read what Susan writes on page 118…
Martha’s story is so often our story. We neglect attentive disciplines because we’re busy doing good things for our work, family, church and world. Just as Martha went about her tasks while Jesus was in her home, we too often become dehydrated even while our roots lie near streams of water. Training attention toward what’s on one’s mind and in one’s heart is regarded by some as self-indulgent. Others find it too demanding. But it was just such a practice that Jesus validated in Bethany and elsewhere. Time after time, Jesus stopped and attended. He noticed what was on his mind and heart and helped others do the same.
Susan recommends praying with scripture as a practice for each of us to increase our capacity to pay attention. Next week Susan will emphasize the connection that attention has with attachment. More attention leads to deeper attachment, which then deepens our ability to pay attention. The FPC Podcast this week as all about paying attention and praying with Scripture. Join me as I have a discussion with Mel Freal and Joan Lotze about their experience of praying with Scripture.
What can you do this week to pay attention the that which is most important?