A “D.N.A.” of “A.D.D.”
"Do not be
interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of
others.” Philippians 2:4
Some time ago, a guy told me, “I’m so
broke, I can’t even pay attention.” Being a successful man, he was joking about
being broke but I’m not so sure about the attention part. In a world of
“A.D.D.” (Attention Deficit Disorder), where mental focus is frequently diverted,
we are just as equally facing “R.A.D.D.” (Relational Attention Deficit
Disorder). When I told my wife I was going to write on this, she said that, “You might want to skip this devotional
because your listening isn’t always the best.” I said, “I’m sorry…did you say something?” Not only can I have a selfish
disorder…but it’s a latent bug in the human genetic pool. In other words, in that pool, we all tend to
swim in the shallow end.
Healthy people give attention to one
another. Unhealthy people don’t. It’s a fact of life. Now, attention doesn’t
mean “understanding” everything. The
older I get, the more I feel out of touch about styles, fashions, and
vocabulary; like the kid who came into
his Dad’s room in the morning and said, “Can I borrow your clothes, its NERD
Day at school?” We can be out of it, Fo-Shizzle!
However, when we give attention and
time, we listen with the heart and it changes lives like few things can.
A little boy was talking
to his dad. "Daddy, how much do you make an
hour?" With
a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned
from work. Greatly surprised, but giving his boy a glaring look, the father
said, "Look, Sonny, I don’t tell other people what I make. Don’t bother me
now. I’m tired." "But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you
make an hour?" the boy insisted. The
father, finally giving up, replied: "Fourteen dollars per hour."
"Okay, Daddy. Could you lend me two dollars?" the boy asked. Angry with his son’s
constant pestering, he said, "Go to sleep and don’t bother me
anymore."
It was already dark, and
the father was feeling guilty for what he said.
Maybe, he thought,
his son needed to buy something for school. Finally, trying to ease his mind, the
father went to his son’s room. "Are you asleep, son?" asked the
father. "No, Daddy, why?" replied the boy, partially asleep. "Here’s
the money you asked for earlier," the father said. "Thanks,
Daddy!" rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and
removing some money. "Now I have enough! Now I have fourteen
dollars!" The father gazed at his son, confused by the meaning of what he
had just said, when the boy continued, "Daddy, could you sell me one hour
of your time, please?"
To often today’s husbands, wives, parents,
children, and friends are so busy that they forget about the ones who are most
important as a whole.
There are times that we need to push our
busy schedule aside and make time to spend with each other. We often never have time for the other members
of our family. We may work ourselves to
death in order to buy our spouses or family the best life that we can
afford; however, there are some things
that money can’t buy.
Philippians 2 says, "Do not be interested only
in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.” Paul stresses that love is expressed through loving
hearts. The formula goes something like this:
TIME
+ INTEREST = ATTENTION
Thankfully, Christ
showed no “attention deficit” toward you and me. Philippians 2:5 adds, “Although He was equal with God, He humbled Himself and became like a
servant." Or as John 1:14
says, “He moved into our neighborhood.”
On this day
before Valentine’s Day, find someone and give them attention…through a note, a
hug, a flower, word of encouragement or simply by listening. When we let Christ’s love overwhelm us, it
becomes part of our D.N.A.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) On a scale from 1-10, how high would
you rate on the “Attention” scale?
2) Which person in your life could most
use attention today and how can you do it?
Consider reading the word today:
Copyright
2014 - Terry Risser
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