Distractions

Do you ever notice how easily distractions can move us away from the path we set out to take?  Often we don't even realize we have abandoned the original plan until we are pretty far down the road. I can relate to this in a big picture sort of way, but also on an everyday smaller scale.  
I am a planner.  I usually have a specific plan in mind for each day and then a broader plan for the week ahead.  I desperately try to stay the course, despite distractions.  Some days this is more difficult than others.  This week happened to be one of them.
As you read from my previous post I am on a mission to organize my life -- My Extreme Life Makeover.  My plan this week was to finish my office and move on to tackling my meal planning/grocery shopping system.  About 3:30 yesterday I realized that the week was quickly coming to an end and I was no where near the path I started out on. God used some distractions this week to remind me of a few things:

1. Sometimes (maybe I should say often here) God has plans for our time that are not the same as our's. What we think of as distractions are often Him trying to get our attention. We should not be so focused on our own plan that we fail to see His.

2. Relationships are work, but they must ALWAYS take the priority in EVERY situation.  

3. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Distance leaves room for hurt feelings, suspicions and misunderstandings.

I've often heard the phrase "you can't take it with you when you go" and that is the harsh truth of the reality of death. I have vivid memories of the day my mom finally received complete healing from her cancer. After hospice pronounced her dead they said that someone would need to go in and remove her jewelry. "Her jewelry! But she wears that everyday! I've never seen her without it on!" is what I was thinking. I had the same feelings  a few months later when my sister and I did an Estate Sale and watched every last thing she owned be sold, leaving only an empty house. There it was, the harsh finality of death, right before my eyes. She was gone and took nothing with her.


My focus this week became some relationships that needed mending, rather than organizing my office.  What I thought were distractions, God showed me were actually priorities.