Paying Attention

You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.
-Psalm 39:5

A friend and I had a conversation the other day about what is or isn't ours to do with all that is going on in the world. We spoke of the 24 hour news cycles, local needs in our area, and the draw of social media and mobile applications, tempting us to endlessly stare at flickering pixels that direct our focus. At one point the phrase "paying attention" came up. 

When someone says "pay attention!" they want to direct your focus to whatever they feel matters the most. But have you noticed how phrases like "paying attention," "spending your time," and "buy a little time" are all economic images?

They reflect something that we all know but rarely acknowledge: every minute of our lives is valuable and limited currency. Unlike money, you can never earn, accumulate or manufacture more time. 

That's what makes me so frustrated with the "spending" I see -- both around me and within me. So many unnecessary battles drain our time and energy. News cycles churn the same headlines over and over just to make us more smug, angry, or fearful. National leaders use their time to manufacture hatred and animosity toward others who are simply trying to exist peacefully. People stew over personal conflicts for years when grace and forgiveness could free up hours of their lives. The list goes on. 

And oh, the things I spend my own time on! There are times that my own thoughts are dominated by what I have no control over, causing me to miss the things that I can affect. I take my attention, and spend it on things that offer no goodness or redemption in return. I can spend minutes or hours on whatever voice might be the loudest that day, or whichever algorithm is effectively engineered to pull me in and give up my valuable resource of attention. It's maddening, exhausting, and bankrupting. 

It makes me feel right in line with the Apostle Paul when he is really frustrated with his lack of focus and goes off in the book in Romans 7 and yells, Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (I know technically he wrote it, but that's the sort of phrase that you shout out loud, with a lot of frustration, as you write). 

Thankfully, we trust that there is indeed a path to freedom in the barrage of options begging us to pay attention at a steep cost. The Spirit of Christ in us is here to give grace, strength, and wisdom for what is deserving. We can resist, redirect, and choose what is best. I like thinking about Mary intentionally spending her time to sit at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus saying she's spending wisely (Luke 10:42).

Discipleship calls us to invest in three distinct things: transformative connection with God, deep relationships with others, and active work for goodness in the world. 

These are simplified further in the directive from Jesus: love God with all you are, and love your neighbor with the same value and dignity as you deserve. That leads to life, according to Jesus himself. Clear. Unequivocal. 

Love God, love others. 
Love God, love others. 
That's the call. That's the way. Love God, love others. 

That's not dumbing it down. That's the framework for using our most valuable resource on the most valuable of expenditures. 

Ironically, when we pay our attention to these things, we never lose a minute of time. Instead, we multiply it in a treasury full of goodness and love that lasts into eternity. I honestly don't love these economic metaphors. But if we're going there, let's go there. We are investing in what will one day have an enormous return in the kingdom of God. 

Each thing we "pay" our attention to comes at a cost. So with an ear to the Spirit and a posture of love, we ask: Who are we paying, when we pay attention? 

Jesus, direct my energy toward things truly worth spending my life on today.  

Peace,
Keith