Life's Distractions...

Do you ever find yourself distracted?  Like truly distracted.  You find yourself analyzing every single thing that people say and do, so much so that you lose sight of what you should be focused on.  You are so lost in other people's stories that you forget that God is writing one of your own?  I have found myself distracted a lot lately.  It is causing me to analyze things that I just have no business analyzing.  It is causing me to over think actions that I don't need to be over thinking.  It has caused me to not spend time reading, journaling, and writing.  This in turn has caused me to lose part of myself.  I am truly at my best when I can spend time writing and creating.  I am truly filled up when I can stop myself from being distracted by everything other people say and do to me.  My focus has to be on the Creator, because without that focus I lose who I am. 

There are so many things that we can get distracted by.  We can get distracted by the busy schedules we lead.  We can get distracted by our marital status, or our lack of a marital status.  We can get distracted by comparing our lives to others.  Determining who has been through the most "stuff."  We can easily allow ourselves to be distracted by the fantasies of future life that we build up.  You know that new job, finally having a family, moving to a new place, building a life in a community.  There are so many distractions that allow us to move what should be #1, into the #2 spot.  

One of my biggest distractions lately has been my work.  I have been putting my heart and soul into a new opportunity I have for the summer.  It has pretty much consumed me.  I was convincing myself that I was doing it to glorify God.  In the end though, the past couple of days I have had to check my motives.  I have had to ask myself why I am really working my butt off, putting in so many hours.  The conclusion I came to is not that I was really truly trying to glorify God....I really truly was trying to glorify myself.  I was trying to make my voice known.  I was trying to prove my worth.  

That's the biggest thing isn't?  When we realize that we are once again trying to prove to others that we are good enough.  We work so hard just to prove that we have what it takes to be part of their lives.  Proving ourselves, becomes a huge distraction.  It takes us away from the purpose of the job or activity in the first place.  When I recognized what I was doing, and laid it down, and admitted that everything probably wasn't going to turn out perfectly.  Well....that is when I was able to not be as distracted by proving my worth.  That was when I realized that I could humbly ask for help from others, and that was a part of my growth.  

My worth isn't based off of how others view me.  It isn't based off of me being the best at everything.  I don't have to prove that I am good enough, because that has already been proven for me.  

The best I can do is allow those things to not become a distraction.  The best I can do is constantly acknowledge that I am doing the best I can.  That I am a person that was created and designed for good things.  The best I can do is not put my worth and value in any one thing, but in the LOVE that was shown and given to me.  That is the best I can do.  And that... is enough!