There are a host of competing priorities in our lives. Each day we have to choose what we do with our time, talents, mind, money, and other material goods. Not all distractions are evil, but they are all destructive.
Do we recognize we are influenced towards each decision? Those decisions may be on autopilot from the good or bad habits we have or imprinted on the sub conscience, which is thinking on repeat, but we are influenced. Distractions can be confusing and give us more choices which can become overwhelming and harder to overcome. That is, until we realize we don’t have to be distracted by any of it, only determined in our aim and consistent in our habits of pursuing eternal life. Is our determination greater than the distractions around?
But I have to get it all done
F. Scott Fitzgerald is quoted as saying, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” That’s much like the person who says I want simplicity, but I still have to do it all. Distractions in life are more closely aligned to Albert Einsteins experience, “to do the same thing and expect different results is insanity.” You must make changes to plan, prioritize, detoxify, and be determined in your life.
The true test is not if we can do it all, but if we will properly prioritize it all. After all, we are on earth “to be tried and tested in all things,” to become, not to just to do. Please know you are the most important person in this life. If you aren’t happy, healthy, spiritual, or strong you cannot help others get there.
“Sometimes being worn down is our own fault for not providing space and time for ourselves for spiritual renewal, an area that to the adversary is “off limits.” We need the equivalent of a designated nonsmoking area to secure us from second-hand sensuality, inappropriate humor, twisted film, and bad music.” “Not My Will, But Thine.” Maxwell
The most useful tool of the devil
When we are distracted we are actually playing into satan’s most used and useful tool in our day: drifting. “The majority of people begin to drift as soon as they meet with opposition,” but it might be that distraction is now the major cause of drifting. The world has never seen so much peace and prosperity.
Not all distractions are evil, but they are all destructive.
The amazing thing to contemplate is that evil is not a real (or lasting) thing at all. Evil doesn’t exist on its own. It is simply good spoiled. Evil is a parasite. It is there only because good is there for it to spoil and confuse. Evil doesn’t create anything, anytime, anywhere. The devil isn’t a creator, he is a creative distractor.
Spirituality Requires Simplicity
Leonardo da Vinci said, “the ultimate form of sophistication is simplicity”. Today the ultimate form of spirituality requires simplicity to not get pulled into the gravitational pull of groveling things. Being determined helps us properly simplify our lives for success and spirituality, thus we invite the Holy Ghost instead of the unholy confusion and distractions.
“In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives.” Let Him do it with Simplicity
Our Conscience is the supreme court of the soul
Ultimately, were attention goes energy flows. We need to be determined because we are responsible for our conscience and our conscience directs our thoughts and decisions. In the technology world it’s GIGO, garbage in, garbage our. If we feed it earthly garbage instead of the heavenly gospel our ability to think and properly is diminished.
“In righteousness there is great simplicity. In every case that confronts us in life there is either a right way or a wrong way to proceed. If we choose the right way, we are sustained in our actions by the principles of righteousness, in the which there is power from the heavens. If we choose the wrong way and act on that choice, there is no such heavenly promise or power, and we are alone and are destined to fail” (“Righteousness,” Liahona, Jan. 2000, 103; Ensign, Nov. 1999, 85)
How Noisy are we today?
We’re so used to ubiquitous sound and enticing entertainment that even a couple of minutes of quiet feels unnatural. In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence, sound and the impact of noise on our lives. It demonstrated the balance of noise and silence in our lives has fallen drastically out of sync.
There are enough noises, nonsense, sounds, sales pitches, emails, entertainments, distractions and devilish things in life let’s be determined not to be distracted in our real identity and purpose.
