“Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions… Love, you drive me to distraction…”

These words, which open the song “Two Step” by the Dave Matthews Band, capture so much of our lives perfectly. We’re driven to distraction by the thousand and one things which HAVE to be done. Whether it’s shuttling the kids to sports practices and music lessons, schoolwork, grocery shopping, or playing with our toys, these things have a tendency to drag us away from what we truly value.  I’ve been struggling with this for a long time, especially late at night. I often find myself having to disengage actively from a book or whatever game I started playing to help shut my brain off because I simply lost track of time. The consequences come mainly in lost sleep, but I know it isn’t such a good thing in the long term, either for my health or my ability to be present with the people whom I serve.

We might be able to say the same thing about how our relationship with God can be a distraction, too. We come before God with the best of intentions, and in turn, can find ourselves pulled away from the things we thought we valued. However, if we, as Christians, are really living into what we say about having God and his Christ at the center, being dragged in that direction, and away from the thousand and one things which the world insists are more important, might not be such a bad thing after all.

- Amy+