40 Days of Embracing Uncertainty - Day 17 (for Monday, March 16)

Last Sunday during my live stream message, I mentioned a post that I had seen on Facebook that I thought was a bit humorous and yet carried some truth to it: “Day 3 without sports… Found a lady sitting on my couch yesterday.  Apparently she’s my wife.  She seems nice.”  Sure – that might be a little unrealistic, but it rings somewhat true for us when we think about how many distractions we have – sorry, had - in our lives.  We no longer have those same distractions in this pandemic world we are living in today.  Our lives are now focused on staying healthy and protected – we have little time to spend on the distractions that life used to offer, in part because those distractions are no longer there!  Truthfully, there are things that we may have neglected when those distractions were present and seemed more important to us.    

All over social media I am seeing post after post which point out the importance of being together, staying safe, cherishing the moments we have, and no longer taking the simple things of life for granted.  As we move further into these moments of having to keep life simple and we hunker down without moving around unnecessarily, we can see more clearly than ever before how there were those things which interrupted our lives. 

For example, I admit that sports could have been a huge distraction.  I would usually record a Minnesota Wild game or Golden Gophers basketball game and watch it later.  If there was a Minnesota game on or an “important” golf tournament, I would usually find a way to watch it.  I, like all of us, no longer have that option.  (And I’m not planning on watching previous games that the sports stations are rebroadcasting so that they can have something that their sponsors can run their commercials for products that no one is going to buy.  That’s ridiculous – I already know who won!)  Yes, sports can be a huge distraction. 

It can be especially disruptive if we have our priorities in the wrong place.  Here is what I believe we are faced with – examining our priorities in the face of a world that has stopped providing the many distractions that we bought into before all of this.  Tell me that I’m wrong.  Perhaps that is a little harsh because I’m sure that most of us have always made good decisions about our priorities.  Most times we’ve kept our families first.  Most times we’ve acted as though our faith expression was right up there.  I’m not saying those things in jest either – I truly believe that for the most part, we kept our priorities in check. 

For the most part. 

Today’s devotion from “Embracing the Uncertain” uses Luke 13:18-35 as the basis for our understanding of keeping our priorities straight when we face distractions.  The Pharisees came to tell Jesus he should abandon his plan and leave because Herod was planning to kill him.  Certainly the Pharisees could have cared less about Jesus’ well-being.  In fact, they’ve been trying to discredit him all along.  But Jesus stays true to his priority – heading toward Jerusalem and his destiny.  He does not allow this distraction to deter his priorities.

These are days that compel us to examine our priorities because life is so delicate and uncertain.  The key thing here is this: we are being reminded of what is really important in our lives.  I’ve been reminded of that this past week.  It’s an important question for each of us to work through – 1) because we have the time to work through it (what else are you going to do?) and 2) it’s the right moment to examine our priorities, because that is all we have going for us: family, faith, health, concern for others, prayer, spiritual growth.  

Now is a great opportunity to look inward, not because it’s Lent – because it is life!