Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and had to ask them once or even multiple times to repeat what they have said because, you just weren’t as focused on what they were saying as you should have been? Wheeeew, having a busy life can put me in this predicament often! Being a mother of 5 littles, my attention is often stretched thin and the areas that need the most attention (lately our two year old) tend to get the result of me actually processing what is going on and a proper response is formed. However, many things throughout my day tend to get little attention and a poor reaction, simply because of LIFE.

Once I have given little of my attention to an area, there is much opportunity for misunderstandings. Kids… somehow naturally know how to take advantage of these times 😆. If you can’t tell, I’ve been struggling with balancing attention lately, and while seeking advice through prayer and the Bible, I found a verse that caught my attention.

When I read this, I instantly thought about the many times I have lost focus while reading the word and simply marked my reading as done for the day without truly taking in the validity of what I was reading. When this happens, (as it does while having a conversation) the original intent of the scripture can get lost and misunderstandings can come about. There is also another thing that tends to happen when I/we read scripture, just to say we’ve “taken time with God”, we tend to be only hearers of the word, forgetting what we have read in the moments scripture is needed.

Let me give you an example, let’s say you’re stuck in traffic on the way home from working an extra long shift and for the 4th time someone has cut you off. If we simply read how to love our enemies, or love our neighbors, we may react much differently than we should as believers. That is because, we have forgotten what we look like in the mirror.

See, the way to become a “doer” of the word is to first be able to give our attention to what we are reading. Sometimes that means, (for me anyways) that I have to triple read what I have read so that I can remember it later. Sometimes that means, watching a video about the scripture/listen to a preacher preach about the scripture. Sometimes, I may find a Bible commentary and research the scripture. Sometimes, I reference the scripture to the many other scriptures that are similar. But every time, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me interpret what I’m reading.

I wanted to encourage us to not get caught up in the fact that (as Christians) we should read the Bible, but instead, let’s give our full attention to what we are reading, so that we can all become doers and not just hearers of the Word.

Prayer: Father, you know how busy our lives are, but you also know the many excuses we are good at giving as to why we can’t devote more time to fully understanding what we have read. Teach us to focus on your Word while we read it to gain a true understanding, and not just to simply mark our Bible reading plan off for the day. Thank you for your grace and mercy, Lord and please forgive our lack of attention. We also ask the Holy Spirit to be our guide as we navigate through the Words you have left us ❤️. In Jesus, we place our faith and hope, amen.