Martha was distracted by her many tasks. —Luke 10:40
When it comes to my quiet time, many of the distractions that make it difficult for me to concentrate aren’t external but internal. Frequently, no sooner do I sit down than I begin thinking of a whole variety of things I need to do—emails to be responded to, projects to be followed up on—anything, it seems, to keep from quieting my heart before God.
While I cannot claim to have succeeded at overcoming such thoughts, I’ve learned I can minimize the effect of these distractions by taking a proactive approach. Rather than stopping to attend to unrelated thoughts as they come to mind, try jotting them down for later. In fact, rather than fighting them, let the fact that they’ve intruded into your quiet time become a prompt to pray about them. As you seek God for wisdom, He’ll help you prioritize your day around His will.
Most likely, the battle with distractions isn’t going away. But we can ask the Lord for grace not to let those distractions keep us from experiencing focused, meaningful time in His presence.
------------------
The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings
©2012 Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
How could you apply these or similar tactics to combat stray thoughts that encroach on your time with the Lord?