Walkie Talkies, Lent and Jesus

I’m going to finish this Lent strong y’all.  Here’s what I’m telling myself right now, people may go back on their word…but the Word of God endures forever.  People and plans may change…but God is faithful in all He does.  And I am not going to let my present circumstances dictate my emotions anymore, or at least for today.  I’m reminding myself of a set of parenting quotes I read over on Like Mother Like Daughter, “Don’t seek affirmation from your children! You are the adult. You get affirmation from doing what’s best for them. Attitude doesn’t bother you.” Ladies, this applies to every.single.person we deal with in life.

People are hard. Misunderstanding is easy. I heard a priest say one time, “The devil fishes in troubled water.” All the enemy has to do is stir things up and KAPOW! He’s got an opening! And unfortunately for me at least, this opening isn’t a one-time deal, it’s more like a revolving door. Goodness, you would think I would learn! You would think I’d be able to spot the traps, pitfalls, and ploys of the enemy. But no, I get sucker-punched, sometimes by the must innocent looking circumstances. You too? Solidarity sister!

So what to do…what to do? Follow Christ a little closer.

Charles Hugo Doyle, in his book Reflections on the Passion (*If you can only afford one book for a yearly Lenten devotional, I highly recommend Reflections on the Passion.) reminds us, “Following Christ at a distance is always perilous.”  

Not sometimes…ALWAYS.

Let me give you an example of this.  My children LOVE to play with walkie talkies.  They will walk from room to room, sometimes even in the same room to talk to each other on those things.  But what happens when they get too far away from each other?  They can’t hear each other.  Do you see what I’m saying?  When I follow our Lord at a distance, I can’t hear Him.  Or if I can hear Him, I don’t get the whole message because of poor reception.

So, how do we stick close to our Lord? Time and effort.

I went to a “Team Culture” meeting for my daughter’s soccer team the other day. In this meeting, the coach was talking about what can hamper the kids in developing not only as a player but as a person. Distraction and excuses were the top two reasons. I’m not a soccer player, just a wife and momma striving for heaven, but I deal with distractions and excuses on a daily basis. Many of them of my own making. I don’t put time in my relationship with Christ because…I don’t put effort in my relationship with Christ because…

I have any easy way to begin to identify the root of our distractions and excuses–look at the 7 Deadly Sins: lust, gluttony, greed, envy, anger, pride, and sloth. Now, let’s begin going through our day–an examen, thinking about our habits, everything from checking or sharing on social media to housework and interacting with our family.

What is the distraction? Does it correlate to one of the 7 Deadly Sins? And what is our excuse?

Something to think about today.