Spiritual ADD

Authors throughout antiquity have wrote of their pension for wandering from the fold. I am certainly less articulate and not the last writer to put pen to paper on the subject...

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ" Galatians 1:6a

Paul was astonished, and so am I. Countless times, God has explicitly given me direction and often has physically moved me to limit distractions from that direction. And I am still able to find ways to veer from the path He's set before me. My friends and I call this "The Shiny Syndrome." If you've ever put something shiny in front of a fishbowl, it's amusing to watch certain fish stop what they are doing to chase the shimmer. The same with laser pointers and dogs, or cats. Not only are they fascinated by this light, they must catch it. And the same can be said of my nature. I can be hot pursuit of God and His will for my life, and then this little devil on the side of the road flashes some shiny, cheap object in my peripheral vision, and bam! I'm caught in wonder of this elusive object and must chase it.

I do not anticipate this ever letting up. Sometimes, I am impressed with my focus. I simply bat away the shiny distractor and keep moving. Other times, and more recently, I can't resist it. And I wander, leaving my Savior behind me while I chase low grade, temporary experiences.

Again, to defer to an author far superior to myself, C.S. Lewis (my favorite Christian thinker) said in The Weight of Glory,

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

All I can do once I realize the pathetic nature of the distraction is simply run back to the path I was on, plead for my Savior to forgive me and set my gaze upon Him. If only He'd give me permanent spiritual blinders. Life would be all the easier for that, yet probably not nearly as rewarding that He was receiving the love of followers who loved Him in a passively forced manner. What a God we serve--He trusts us enough to walk along the path with all manner of billboard distractions and lies vying desperately for our attention. And He trusts the Word He's implanted in our hearts. That, in the end, we will not depart from it. And when we don't, how much sweeter is our love for Him. It is a choice made, knowing the counterfeits offered to us by the spiritual con men at the side of the road.

I'm back on the road, determined to keep my eyes affixed on the One who sacrificed far more than my little mind could ever imagine, so that I may have a life more abundant than the one presented by the shrill, unceasing voices off the road less traveled.

Though I fall, I know He's there to catch me. Though I wander, He's faithful to pursue me and woo me back to the life He's intended. And I am in utter awe of His faithfulness and patience with His attention deficit riddled little girl. What a God we serve.