In Ruth Haley Barton's wonderful book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, she speaks of the practice of paying attention. She uses the story of Moses and the burning bush to illustrate the importance of awareness of God in our life. Moses was out tending his father-in-law's sheep when he saw a bush in the distance that was on fire, but not being consumed. Upon checking it out, Moses has an encounter with God, who calls him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
Earlier this year a coworker was leading me and my teammates through a devotional time using this book content. She explained how we can often be too busy in our lives to turn and look at our own burning bush moment, and shared some examples from her own life. She gave us time to sit and think about burning bush moments in our lives, and one image popped into my mind: a dumpster fire. That's a bit dramatic, I know. But it's really how I felt that day. I felt as though there could be burning bush moments in my life, but I was missing them, because dumpster fires were calling my attention away from them. (If you're not familiar with this eloquent phrase, a "dumpster fire" means a complete disaster, something very difficult that nobody wants to deal with). If I’m honest, I let my attention be taken away from wise and productive things in my day and allow myself to focus on dumpster fires. It's really no one's fault but my own. Here are a few fires from the last week: political drama on social media, a fascinating podcast about corruption in evangelicalism, an out of control email inbox that tempts me to think I’m a failure at handling the projects I’m involved in. These things steal my attention and leave me feeling jaded. These things cause me to feel disheartened to a point of depleting my motivation and joy. I’m guessing I’m not alone in this? I know that what I fill my time with has an impact on my heart and mind, but I often make what feels like the wrong choice. I consume things I find interesting and intriguing, thinking they will satisfy my curiosity, my desire for the latest news, and if I’m honest, my desire to get worked up about something that bothers me. But ultimately, those things don’t feed my soul. The dumpster fires keep me from potential burning bush moments, big or small. I have the power to choose what is better, profitable, good. I can choose to practice paying attention- not to bury my head in the sand and ignore what is going on in the world- but to use the wisdom God gives me to discern what to pay attention to and what is ok to let go of. “Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8 NIV
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Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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