The New To-Do List

I've been a little absent from posting on this blog lately and I don't have any excuses other than what I've written about in this post.  I'm posting over at More to Be tomorrow about feeling distracted and I wanted to share it with you all as well.

This morning I have to make a confession.  It’s something that has been stirring in my soul for a few weeks and on Sunday night at our evening church service it hit me.  Our pastor gave a message about being distracted.  He spoke about how earthly things can distract us from God, from His son, and from our relationship with Him.  And so this morning I would like to confess that I have become very…distracted.

I have let answering e-mails, checking Facebook, stress at work, and other personal responsibilities get in the way of my relationship with God.  Today I’m going to boldly confess that I have been guilty of putting other things before my relationship with God.

As I said before, I’ve been feeling this guilt stir within me lately, but I was too scared to admit it.  If I admitted it, I would have to voice that lately I haven’t been putting Him first in my life, and that thought consumed me with sadness. 

The final straw for me was this past weekend when I realized while driving down the road that I had been so wrapped up in what I had to do, that I had forgotten to pray that day.

I’m far from having a perfect prayer life, but prayer is the way I feel close to God.  Prayer is how I continue to develop my personal relationship with Him.  Once I realized I had forgotten, I quickly said a prayer that sounded like this: Lord, thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for my family and friends.  Please forgive me of my sins and please keep us all safe as we go throughout the rest of the day.  Not that this wasn’t a good prayer, but my heart wasn’t in it when I was praying it.

Why? 

I was distracted. 

I was distracted by my favorite song coming on the radio, by the fact that I was running late, and so many other things.

I let earthly things come before my Heavenly Father, and I am so ashamed of it.  I knew my focus was off and that I wasn’t giving Him the full attention that He deserved, but for some reason I couldn’t pull myself from my distractions.

Have you ever felt this way?  Have you ever struggled to maintain focus when it comes to prayer or your relationship with God?

My first priority in the morning shouldn’t be hoping on Facebook.  It shouldn’t be checking and returning e-mails, or making sure the dishwasher is loaded.

It should be about Him. 

It shouldn’t be about me.  But the human me, the sinner that always falls short says it is.  It tells me that my to-do list is more important than starting off my day with praise for Him before my feet hit the floor.  It tells me that I don’t always have time to read my Bible before I go to work.  It tells me I’ll get to it later.

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It tells me that I have control over everything in my life and that my timing is better than God’s.   It tells me its okay to get distracted from Him.

 Any of this sound familiar?  

 Wow! We are SO WRONG.  Aren’t we?

Friends, will you join me today in making a new challenge for ourselves? 

Let’s begin today with no more excuses and no more distractions.  Let’s make our relationship with our Heavenly Father the number one priority in our life.  Let’s not allow ourselves to become distracted by earthly things, and let us put our focus towards Him, the One who never becomes distracted from us.

Would you share with me today some things that distract you from your relationship with God?  Or perhaps you have lost focus in the past, but found a new way to regain it-would you share it?

  Dear Heavenly Father,

I am so sorry for becoming distracted from you.  I am ashamed that I have put other things before you.  Please help me to put my focus back on you and not other things.  Help me to return to that personal relationship with you that I hold so dear.  You never become distracted from us.  Your love never ceases to amaze me.  Thank you for that unconditional love you forever give us.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Who will join me in the challenge to regain our focus back on God?

I think Josh Wilson's "I Refuse" is only fitting for this post: