Running the Race

As she runs out of the room, I know she wasn't really listening. She arrives before me with excitement and with a feeling of accomplishment only to be welcomed by a frustrated and inpatient tone. "Abbie, I said 'go into your room and get the baby wipes. Not a tissue, not another diaper, and definitely not a toy!" I can feel my frustration turn into anger. "Forget it, I will do it myself. Do you think you can keep an eye on your sister so she doesn't fall off the couch?" I finish changing Eb's blowout of a diaper and the guilt sets in. 

Abbie has a problem listening. Her hearing is perfectly fine but her listening does not work. I try tricks like repeating myself, looking her in the eyes when I say it, making her stop moving around, and having her repeat it.  She still somehow gets distracted and brings me the wrong item. Oh how lucky we are to have a father who has so much patience than I could ever have. 

There are so many times that I might know what God has told me to do and yetI still seem to get distracted. Things of the world can catch my attention. I don't set out to become distracted and my intentions might be in the best but if I don't listen to what God has to say, it happens. I find that I have to set my eyes on God and set what He says on my heart. Often I have to repeat His words in order to keep my mind where it belongs. We are in a race and we must set our eyes on God. 

This reminded me of horses and race horses. Horses are animals that have peripheral vision. They need to have blinders on to keep them from becoming distracted and running off course.  

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fix in your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

What is distracting you?