The Main Subject: God.
Digression: my distractions in the midst of prayer. Do I turn aside from God? No, not deliberately. Do I wander from paying attention to Him? That is a good question. My will, in a time of prayer, may or may not stray.
My mind? Now there's the great wanderer, the little nomad, the part that goes missing in action without so much as a fare-thee-well. It can later be found in the most unlikely places, having chased every "wheeeeeeeeeeeee, let's follow this!" mental breeze.
Temporarily is the final word in the dictionary definition. This is a word that gives me hope. My distractions are not a permanent condition. It is only when I will not hope in GOD that I become hopeless .... and that, itself, can be a temporary state. The instant I turn and place my hope in Him - that's the instant when hope is restored. That is when God has the last word.
Even when I ask forgiveness of sin, my repented-of failings are rendered "temporary." Everything in this life will one day fall into that category.
Imagine being able to concentrate fully on the Main Subject, the one thing necessary.
Imagine dwelling eternally where all digressions have ceased.
Reconciled To You and Theology Is A Verb
Painting; John Singer Sargent, Capri Girl on a Rooftop, detail
"My mind? Now there's the great wanderer, the little nomad, the part that goes missing in action without so much as a fare-thee-well. It can later be found in the most unlikely places, having chased every "wheeeeeeeeeeeee, let's follow this!" mental breeze." Nancy, I cracked up reading this! My mind could be called the same! Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary. Sometimes I'm in the middle of prayer and wonder how my mind wound up at a beachside restaurant in the summer of '86 thinking about sunscreen and eating clams.
DeleteAnother wanderer here! It's distressing but I have to remember to calmly turn my mind back to God as soon as I'm aware of straying. Even if it takes up my whole prayer time which it often does. I can't remember which saint talked about this. Maybe St. Teresa of Avila?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember which saint either, Aileen. I'm thinking perhaps more than one? I definitely identify with it taking up the whole prayer time to keep calling ourselves back!
DeleteJust to say: me, too! I loved the way you said it with such humor and gentleness. And "temporary"....I hope that remains with me, as one who still sometimes forgets...
ReplyDeleteChristine, thank you. I am clinging to the "temporary" part!
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