Focus

I am having a hard time focusing these days.  

I can think of a lot of reasons for this lack of focus.  

Technology is an easy thing to blame. I spend too much time on my phone or looking at my laptop while at work. Content on the internet is intentionally designed to capture our attention in brief increments which in turn causes our attention to fragment.  

I recently heard our current social media and technological landscape described as “human attention fracking.”  

Of course, technology isn’t the only culprit. When our technology is combined with a busy life of work, family, personal health, and hobbies, you end up with a fractured and diminished ability to focus.  

To be perfectly honest, I have had a hard time sitting down to write this eDevotion. I just can’t seem to focus. The headlines – from the state of our civil society, to the plight of our LGBTQ+ neighbors, or to the wars that plague every corner of the earth – are utterly devastating. The pull to use a tool like ChatGPT is so tempting. The number of people in this parish who need care, along with the emails in my inbox awaiting responses, is substantial. Who has time to focus? And where do we even begin? 

But we human beings lose something when we lose the ability to sit still and focus. When we fall prey to the myth that our productivity – the number of issues (big and small) we solve – is our true value, we reject our identity as image bearers of God. The same God who creates and rests, tends and holds. The same God who is eternally present and focused on us.  

We must reclaim our focus for the sake of our souls. We must be able to sit still and breathe our God-given breath. We must forsake our to-do list to stand and see the glory of the blooming wisteria. We must behold our friends and family members until we see the fingerprints of the Potter on them.  

The poet Jack Gilbert wrote:

We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,

but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have

the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless

furnace of this world. To make injustice the only

measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.

I’m having a hard time focusing these days - at least focusing on the goodness, beauty, and grace of the world. And I don’t know where to start. Perhaps I can simply ask God to help me (and you) focus on this moment, this breath, this new opportunity to give thanks for the world that is blooming with the buds of heaven. Perhaps that will make a good eDevotion.