Weekly Greeting - February 7, 2025
Greetings friends,
A good friend of mine who was also a member of a former church I served once gave me a book to read about ADHD. She was a medical professional. I wondered if the reason she gave me the book was because she thought I might have ADHD. You think? I read the book, thanked her for giving it to me and said, “That is a very interesting book, but I do not have ADHD. “ She laughed and said, “Craig, everyone knows you have ADHD!” Since then, while I have never been tested, I have come to accept the very real possibility that I may have ADHD. My wife, who is a gifted special education teacher with a PhD in the field of education, agrees.
It has often been said that time is our most precious commodity. However, in my recent devotional time, I read that many current social commentators now say that is no longer true, but that our most precious commodity is attention. As someone who “may” live with the symptoms of ADHD, it is easy for me to agree.
Obviously advertisers and app developers spend billions of dollars to capture our attention. When things or people have our attention, they can shape our lives.
Jesus once said:
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. (Matthew 6:22-23)
The things that capture our attention determine the kind of person we become.
It is helpful for us all to stop and occasionally assess who or what we are focusing on. Am I endlessly scrolling on my phone? Am I spending too much time watching the news and online shopping and not enough on feeding my soul?
The eye is the lamp of the body. The things we take in really do shape who we are. Take some time (and attention) to focus on those things that really matter.
Blessings,
Craig __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In our worship series through this Season of Epiphany, we have focused on the “Gifts of Faith.” We have reflected on the gifts of the magi, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of community, the gift of Scripture and love. This week our focus will be “The Gift of Worship,” our text is Isaiah 6:1-8. Sometimes worship can feel like a weekly chore or obligation. Worship does involve discipline and “practice,” but when we continue to worship, even when it is less than exciting, we can discover it can become the gift we need the most.