DISTRACTIONS OLD AND NEW

Just the other day I was having breakfast with my son-in-law and grandson at a Lexington,Kentucky Cracker Barrel.

 On our table was one of those old games with fourteen golf tees and fifteen holes in a triangular piece of wood.  To achieve the highest score, you had to eliminate thirteen tees but one. Its like playing checkers.  I gave up after two tries, but a moment of insight came to me as I looked around the restaurant.  The game is a great distraction and it interferes with conversation.  It takes you away from meaningful interaction with the other people at the table.  Then I realized that’s exacting what texting does!  Both short circuit the potential enrichment of a meal together and frankly the distraction diminishes the opportunities to affirm and learn from the other(s) at the table.

Remembering the post resurrection story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and the dinner scene, can you imagine one of them playing the golf tees and holes game or texting at the table instead of watching Jesus break the bread and reveal his identity as Lord and Saviour?  Too often we get distracted and miss sacred moments in the company of others who are means through whom God wishes to share his grace and reveal his identity.  Or we are his means of grace, his human agents who are too busy with the trivial to be of any divine good.  Whether it is an old or new form of distraction, stay attentive.  Remain alert.  We become the company we keep and/or the channel God is counting on.