Getting Sidetracked

 The last two weeks have been a bit hectic. We had worship on Sunday and then again two days later, on Christmas Eve. Our candlelight service was beautiful, in my opinion, and people from several other local churches joined us. I took off Christmas day, and then the day after, which was Kat's birthday. The next day, Friday, I woke up with the task of Sunday's sermon as my number one priority. I had already planned everything else for worship, and so the sermon was the only thing on my agenda for Friday and Saturday.

Well, it should have been the only thing on my agenda, but it kinda wasn't. Two weeks ago we decided that our boys would have an easier time at bedtime, and get a better night's sleep, if they had separate bedrooms. And we figured out that the way to make that happen was through a series of changes in our home. We would have to convert our spare bedroom into my study, then Robin and I would move our bedroom into my former study, then move Kat into what was our bedroom, and then move Xander into what was Kat's bedroom.

The same Friday that I needed to work on my sermon Kat and Robin cleared out the spare bedroom and Robin painted a wall. We had figured out how to configure my new study, as the room would be smaller. Robin, Kat and the boys worked on moving one bookcase and its books. So the next step would be moving my desk.

So as I worked on my sermon I took occasional breaks to help with the moving process. I decided some of my books could be moved over to church, and some could be given away to the local second-hand store. I cleaned up the various drawers and nooks on my desk. And, unlike the sermon I was working on, I could see tangible progress in the moving project. It was easy to get sidetracked and work on a necessary project, although of secondary importance to what I knew was a high priority.

It is easy to get sidetracked in the Christian life. We are tired and weary. Or perhaps we are emotionally tied-up in a particular situation. Or maybe we are spending a lot of time with people whom we love dearly but their values aren't grounded in the same things that our are, and so we drift off away from the Lord for a period of time, instead of remaining close to him.

As this post was taking shape in my mind I found myself coming back to the words of Jesus that we remember as the Great Commandment:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

These are the words of Jesus that can anchor us in the ways that we live, day-by-day, as his disciples. When we ground ourselves in them we can stay on the right paths and not get sidetracked. They draw us back when we notice we are drifting. 

May you turn to these words, and the Lord who gave them to us, to stay on course as you love and follow him. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.