Distractions

Do you ever worry that you are spending your time distracting yourself and maybe life is passing you by? I heard someone on the radio this week theorising that we spend so much time distracting ourselves that we never really live. Facebook, TV, chores, 'keeping busy' is an art we seem to be perfecting in this country.

In a lecture I was watching this week on Genesis the teacher was talking about the moment when the serpent said to Eve "You will not surely die" if you eat from the forbidden tree. God had told Adam and Eve that they would surely die if they ate of it, but the serpent, knowing this effect would not be immediate, chose to deceive them. 

Those fatal words are whispered into our ears all the time by today's distraction culture, aren't they? Why worry about the consequences of your living? You will not surely die! And if you do, well, it's too far off to concern yourself with now. And what good does it do to think about it anyway?

And slowly but surely, to support our distraction from it, we try to eradicate the reality of death from our radar. Celebrities in the public eye hide signs of aging any way they can. TV and film directors choose not to use aging female actors or presenters for substantial roles. Emergency services and funeral directors deal with our dead and we need never even come into contact with them unless we choose to. We don't talk about it.

And yet, spending our lives denying the passing of time can prevent us from engaging with real issues and living purposefully. Do you have enough space in all the 'keeping busy' to consider your impact on the world? To consider whether you'll be happy with what you achieved when you look back? Did you do some good while you were here?

Do you have time to consider if God actually exists? Or in general what life might actually be about?

Nobody has time to waste, but we each can make time for a little contemplation. Reviewing your life, your priorities, and taking some time to search for purpose, could well be a good investment... 

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