Handling the Crunch Part 2 - Be Where You Are

Distractions are everywhere!! My iphone, my andriod tablet, my laptop, facebook, twitter, sports scores, my jeep, and the list could go on and on. Distractions takes you away from what is right in front of you. This is a HUGE challenge for me. I am like the guy on the commercial that is changing the baby's diaper, while talking on the phone and surfing the internet. I know I am not the only one that struggles with this. God has been walking me through this with the little phrase "Be Where You Are".

Too often we miss the moment! We miss the birthday party (even though we are there) because our mind is somewhere else. Maybe we went to the other room to just "check my email" for a second and get lost for 30 minutes. Many of us are often somewhere else. We are thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and missing what is right in front of us. If you get caught up in this, you will find that "time flies." The days and weeks and years are a blur and you can't seem to recall much. When you really focus on what is directly in front of you, when you are truly present and engaged in the moment, something wonderful happens. In our house, we call it "slow time." It is a fantastic phenomenon where the day crawls by, and there is lots of time for all that we want to accomplish and then some. We talk, play, work, and live fully engaged and fully together - focused on our relationships in the moments of the day, rather on the line items of our to do list. Funny thing is, the list gets done in the course of it all. Seems that God honors us when we put relationships first which is what "be where you are" is really all about!

Jesus' ministry focused on who was right in front of Him. He focused on the PERSON at hand. In Matthew, the Bible commands us to not worry about tomorrow. So let's stop thinking and worrying about tomorrow because God is already there. Let's start living in the PRESENT because it is a wonderful gift from the Lord.