It's 5:48 am on a Sunday and I have been awake since about 4, but I don't like to waste anytime that I am given, even when it is early, to reach beyond my personal universe and find a way to make a difference. You see, every day there is something or someone demanding our attention.
Whenever I see the latest Entertainment News on TV, I feel violated because they are so demanding. Do they think my life depends on what happened between Brad and Angelina and Jennifer? Do I really NEED to hear about that stoopid crook that got caught doing something so important that I have to turn my attention away from helping my kids with their home work? Or are they just trying to boost their rating$$$$$? Seriously, where have our priorities gone?? Here is what I think, we have been Conditioned to have our Attention turned away from anything that has value in our lives to worthless, idle, mind junk that is robbing us blind. We are so consumed with being consumers that we are letting Entertainment loot our priorities like pirates.
We need to stop for just one day and ask ourselves how we can turn our attention away from the things that are so demanding and turn them to matters of life and making a difference. No more, "me time" even though it seems like there are only moments in a day, but by turning our Consumer mind set into a Prosumer action plan, we will find far more satisfaction than we could ever imagine. When all has been stripped away from your life as it does when some tragedy strikes, like your child having cancer, it's easier to start from ground zero and start a new life. I give a lot of my attention to the kids that appear everyday on Facebook and Caring Bridge so I can make more people aware that kids with cancer deserve more celebrity status than the latest movie star or football player. I don't know if anything can compare to the smile of a child that is in the middle of a battle against a deadly disease when it comes to getting my attention. You just have to open your heart, the one that is bound up in the barbed wire trap that the news channel has you wrapped up in, and you will walk away and never turn back. I know this all sounds like a "personal experience" that will never be the same, but the fact is, you Attention is being stolen everyday, and when something important arises, and you ask yourself, where is all my time, money and energy going, don't be fooled into thinking you can't make a difference when you can turn off the TV and look at your kids and remember the day they were born, how healthy they are and how much more life you will have to spend with them. Then when you have a little time, don't go out and pay $20-$30 to watch the latest movie and pad the pockets of multi-millionaires but see what child is being Celebrated on the Red Carpet and hear how close we are to a cure, then think about how you can make a lasting impact on the life of a child struggling in ways you would never wish on your worst enemy.
What do you think, time for a C.H.A.N.G.E?
Challenge yourself
Hope is your guide
Ask for it daily
Never (ever) give up
God is on your side
Expect results
Here's a little more on how Jesus says it best
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. "If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:1-9 NIV)
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