Attentiveness
By Chris Pan, Executive Director
When Jesus said this, He called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Luke 8:8)
I’ve been thinking a lot about attentiveness recently. As we slowly start seeing people face to face again, I’m trying to learn to be present. To be an attentive listener and not distracted by screens. For those of us who spent a lot of time on Zoom and online during the pandemic, I saw a lot of multi-tasking going on. People in meetings checking their phones, reading other screens, doing other things. I saw you! I know you saw me too! Can we all put our devices down and be present to each other?
The author Leighton Ford writes the following about the importance of being an attentive listener to God and others:
Attentiveness is one of the most difficult concepts to grasp and one of the hardest disciplines to learn. For we are a very distractible people in a very distracting world. God wants us to be an attentive people, as He is an attentive God. Many of the words of God in the Bible call His people to “look,” “see,” “listen,” “give heed.” . . . The influential French writer Simone Weil believed that attention was at the very heart of prayer, and her French forbear Blaise Pascal also felt that inattention is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life. . . . Attentiveness, as I have come to see, is most critical for us to find the way to clarity of heart, and clarity is the path to seeing God, who is the source and end of all our longing.
Attention is at the heart of prayer, and inattention is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life. What a wild idea in our very distracting world.
Pastor Pete Scazzero writes, “What is one practical step you can take today to lessen your distractibility and offer a deeper, more sustained focus to God and to the people around you?”
Prayer: Jesus, I am an easily distracted person. Help me to focus and pay attention to You, and to the people around me. Help me to listen and love well. In Your name, amen.
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