THE INTERRUPTION

You’re on a roll checking items off your to-do list.

You hit the writer’s sweet spot—the words are pouring out of your mind through your fingers on the keyboard.

Dastardly Dan has tied Sweet Nell to the train tracks, and Dudley Do Right is trying desperately to beat the oncoming train to rescue her. His faithful horse stumbles and man and horse tumble head over heels…

You’re playing a timed game on your phone, and you just might beat your best score ever.

Your mind is totally focused and SOMEONE INTERRUPTS YOU!

It might be your toddler, a coworker, a customer, or a friend—they interrupt you, and for some strange reason they expect a civil answer.

MY RESPONSE

My word for this year—the one that I’ve felt led by the Spirit to aspire to live by—is hesed. There’s no one word that can be  substituted for this Hebrew word describing enduring, selfless, undeserved love expressed in action. “What does that have to do with interruptions?” you might ask.

If I truly want to practice hesed, then I will choose to believe that God sent this intrusive person to me. I have been given an opportunity to set my self aside—and whatever is consuming me—to show focused love on this child, coworker, friend, or stranger, that God nudged my way.

And when I am frustrated by unfinished tasks, interrupted entertainment, intrusions in MY whatever, I need to count to ten and focus on hesed. It’s not always about me, my stuff, my task, my plan for the day… hesed turns my focus to others and their needs. God has his own plan for me, and I need to pay attention to it.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Thanks and forgiveness become key words that sit side-by-side with hesed.

I thank God for His priorities that superseded my own. I forgive others for their needs this day. And, hardest of all, I must forgive myself for unfinished tasks.

Sometimes it helps to change my vocabulary—interruptions become opportunities to practice hesed.