Distractions Extraordinaire

October 1, 2008

You don’t have to be in ministry to know both the rush and frustration of distractions. We want to know how we can avoid them, when the truth is that we can’t. Tasks we haven’t thought of, crises that we didn’t anticipate and disasters that no one could ever predict come upon us. They just do. Let alone the distractions we allow for one reason or another.

I am an email fiend if there ever was one, love Twitter, and think you should follow me for the fun of it. At the same time, I try to have some semblance of availability as a Pastor that doesn’t border on or cross the line of neuroticism. There are some distractions that are controllable, if we so choose. I know I must work at limiting them for the good of my own soul.

Thanks to my friend, Bob Hyatt, I quote Ruth Haley Barton, from her book, Sacred Rhythms, as follows:

“It’s not that I am averse to technology; I too have a cell phone, an office phone, a home phone and an email address, and they are much needed. However, I am aware of longings that run much deeper than what technology can address. I am noticing that the more I fill my life with the convenience of technology, the emptier I become in the places of my deepest longing. I long for the beauty and substance of being in the presence of those I love, even though it is less convenient. I long for spacious, thoughtful conversation even though it is less efficient. I long to be connected with my authentic self, even though it means being inaccessible to others at time. I long to be one who waits and listens deeply for the still, small voice of God, even if it means I must unplug from technology in order to become quiet enough to hear.

Constant noise, interruption and drivenness to be more productive cut us off from or at least interrupt the direct experience of God and other human beings, and this is more isolating than we realize. Because we are experiencing less meaningful and divine connection, we are emptier relationally, and we try harder and harder to fill that loneliness with even more noise and stimulation. In so doing we lose touch with the quieter and more subtler experiences of God within.

This is a vicious cycle indeed.”

Well said, don’t you think? If you’re NOT thinking about it or can’t grasp it, therein may lie the problem of which we speak. Just a thought!

Posted by Paul | Filed Under Anxiety, Burnout, Church life, Creativity, Emotional health, Leadership, Life, Margin, Message Preparation, Pace of life, Pastor, Personal Pace, Rest, Sabbath, Sabbaticals, Things that add life 

Comments

6 Responses to “Distractions Extraordinaire”

  1. Bernie on October 4th, 2008 6:24 pm

    I agree - my wife HATES my Crackberry and it has become an addiction. The loss of relationships and deep conversations (face to face and heart to heart) and the drain on my creative abilities are very evident the more I spend time or waste time doing technology or should I say it doing me. Twitter (no offense Paul) is a bizzare piece of technology and a few of the pastors and leaders I tracked felt it important to say: Going into Starbucks - got my laptop. Getting a haircut, eating a burrito.” I signed up and said - no, I don’t follow any Twitterites, just trying to follow Jesus and follow the demands of life and ministry and growing responsibilities. Can you say PEN and PAPER?
    PS: I just received some written notes in the past few months, the most I have received in ages. I think pen and paper are making a come back…..you see the writing and realize a person did that, the heart comes through the page……..I am doing more pen and paper notes and people are commenting…..how NUEVO it is……..yeah, retro is Nuevo.

  2. Kim on October 5th, 2008 9:18 pm

    In the last few months the thing I have been seeking God for most of all is a restored rhythm. It isn’t the technological distractions that have sapped my energy and seeped in to corrode my sense of synchronicity with the divine, rather it is the pace at which I am expected to perform for which that technology was created. It doesn’t really help. Though I have unlimited information at my fingertips, I have a limited ability to grasp and integrate it, though I have continuous connectivity in audio visual availability, I have a need to turn off and tune out in order to be still and know who is God.

    I know they are simply tools to increase my capacity to communicate and effectively expand productivity…and I use them…but there are days when I feel used by them or becauseof them. On those days, I lay them down and sit down face to face with myself, my God, or an “other”. It returns me to my humanity and reminds me I am not alone.

  3. LouieD on October 7th, 2008 11:49 am

    Putting down my iPhone… taking the earbuds out of my ears… leaving the laptop in a safe place… making eye contact… listening to the end of what you’re saying, without thinking up a response while you’re talking… being where I am, fully, completely engaged, present.

    Yeah. I hear what you’re talking about…

  4. Paul on October 8th, 2008 7:57 am

    Bernie … thanks for the input. I have found Twitter to be fun as long as one can keep it from being such a distraction. That can take work!

    Kim … great insight and what a wise pulse you have on your own limits. You put words to my thoughts …. I too have only a limited ability to grasp and integrate it.

    Louie … welcome to the conversation, and I appreciate your participation that will help us all integrate this stuff into our lives and ministry paths!

  5. Jan Owen on October 11th, 2008 3:32 pm

    Paul, Ruth is my retreat leader. You should read “Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership” - a perfect match for this blog. She is great and all her work is so insightful.

  6. Lauren on October 14th, 2008 10:29 am

    I had just started reading “Sacred Rhythmns” when you posted this the other day. It’s a fantastic book. Lots of food for thought:)

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