Paper Towels

While cleaning up the kitchen tonight, I found myself heading to the back of the house for paper towels - three times. This is not because I needed paper towels that many times, nor was it because I feel I need the exercise (although it probably doesn't hurt). I proceeded to go back and forth because my pursuit of paper towels was forgotten.

We've all had things like that happen - at least the crowd I mix with. You head into one room (usually on the other side of the house) with a purpose in mind. You need something, so you tell your feet to take you there.

Then the distractions come in. Someone will ask you a question, completely breaking your concentration . . . but mostly the distractions don't talk. It will sometimes be as simple as a pair of socks that need to hit the hamper.

Tonight while I was in the boys room, doing just that - I noticed the pile of laundry on their bed that needed to be put away. Did I call them in to do it? No, it's much faster to do the job myself. (I know, I am messing my kids up here.) After I hung the last shirt up, I took a detour into the bathroom to shampoo Makayla's hair. Then back into the kitchen for . . . oh ya, paper towels.

I can see doing this once, maybe twice . . . but three times? What this means, I really do not know. Maybe I am losing it. Maybe "it" has been lost for a while - it being my mind.

It got me thinking about how easily I lose track of something God gives me through His Word. I will have this great promise to hold on to, and one by one the distractions start moving in. Bad thoughts like dirty socks line the hallway of my mind. A pile of distractions to sort through over here, and some shampooing to do over there. It's no wonder I forget what I was seeking in the first place.

So thinking back to the kitchen, what keeps me in pursuit of those paper towels? Well, what I've discovered tonight is that they serve a need. I have a job to do, and in order to complete the task, I NEED those paper towels.

It's the same with God's Word. We have each been given a job to do. And in order to complete the task, we NEED the guidance, protection and nourishment of God's Word.

So as you strive to meditate on God's good Word, I want to encourage you - keep seeking! Distractions will come in many different sizes and shapes . . . but don't give up. You may end up looking like a crazy person, circling around the same thing over and over again.

But eventually the Truth will become a part of you . . . and in an instant, there will no more need for wandering.