Divine Distractions

I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to routine and my morning runs. There’s a certain path I take and I seldom deviate from it. Yet, there was something about this particular morning run where I felt God lead me down a different path. Up for an adventure, I said, “yes.” So here I was, off of The Woodlands trails of familiarity and running along a grassy non-paved path when I noticed I had an untied shoe lace. It’s funny how something as simple as an untied shoelace can cause frustration, but, I’ll admit it. I hated stopping amidst the pace and rhythm I had just settled into. Then it happens. As I stop to tie my shoes my eyes catch a glimpse of a deer just over the path to my left. I walk over, down a small hill, and just sit and watch. The deer was drinking from a small stream that ran adjacent to the path I was running along that, honestly, I had never taken the time to notice. It was quiet, it was beautiful, and it was a moment that my heart desperately needed.

There’s something here for us all, isn’t there? I wonder how many times in our daily routines does God have divine distractions placed in our paths. It’s easy to run here, rush there, and keep a back-breaking pace falling victim to the lie that, “someday it will slow down.”   

Perhaps this message is for you today, friend. Take a break. Literally. Take off your shoes, walk outside, find some grass and feel the earth under your feet. Or, maybe, just climb a tree! Take a lesson from our friend Zacchaeus we talked about in Harvest last Sunday. Here’s a guy who was at the top of his game, yet, he pressed pause on the pursuit of “stuff” to climb a tree and get a greater perspective on the One who truly brings life. And that divine distraction? It changed him forever.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked… but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1–3