Notice…then Pay Attention by Sandi Somers

 

Pay attention…Pay attention. That is all you have to do.

Never, for an instant,

 leave off paying attention

~Thornton Wilder~

Whenever I think of noticing and paying attention, I think of Moses who noticed the nearby mysterious flaming bush. He did more than notice, however. He said, “I’ll go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up” (Exodus 3:3). When he paid attention, God spoke to him about the plight of the Hebrews’ brutal slavery in Egypt. God was commissioning him to go and deliver them.

It’s one thing to notice something, but another to pay attention.

Noticing means we see something, maybe unusual, or striking, or impressive, as Moses did. Paying attention means we take a second look. God draws our attention to both immense burning bushes and tiny flames that continue to burn in our spirits, flames of something God wants us to do and be. 

These last few weeks the concept of paying attention has come up so often that it’s become my word of the month. Comments in books and blog posts, and mental reminders seemed to recur wherever I looked.

Scripture kept popping out at me.  

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” Hebrews 2:1

“Look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you” Ezekiel 44:5.  

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” Hebrews 12:2

Noticing and paying attention are important to both our spiritual and writing lives, as my examples below illustrate.

Spiritual

Among other things, God is impressing on me to listen carefully to the Spirit’s still small voice. He’s calling me to intercede more intentionally for my family and others. Often this comes through Scripture that pops out at me. As I pray that verse back to God as a “Scripture Prayer”, I know I am praying according to God’s intentions. 

Writing

Some of my early writing lacked close attention to sensory impressions and to the people and world around me. It became true that vagueness in the writer causes confusion in the reader. Paying closer attention has taught me to be a better writer. 

* * *

If what you notice is strong, it is significant. Trust it. If it remains in your mind, mull it over. Write about it. Find a meaning to it. Julia Cameron wisely said that “the audience we require is our own loving attention.”

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Joshua 1:8

Behind Jericho - by Bruce Atchison

Deliverance from Jericho is my memoir of how I ended up in a residential school for deaf and blind children. For six lonely years, my parents sent me five-hundred miles from my home in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta for months at a stretch.

Because I lived so far away from Vancouver, British Columbia, I was only allowed to return home during Christmas and summer. Additionally, my parents paid for the train tickets so I could visit for two Easters and the government paid for one Easter plane trip home.

These experiences scarred me deeply. For decades, even the mention of Jericho Hill School made me depressed.  I also suffered from bad dreams about being back there.

But thanks to a radio show called Hope in the Night, I learned how to deal with the traumas of my past. The host, June Hunt, told me that I could hand over the pain and those bad memories to Christ and he would heal my soul. Furthermore, she said I would have to keep on doing this as those bad thoughts would surface over and over for a while.

Thanks to this technique, I felt ready to write about my experiences a few years later. Doing so gave me the ability to release any claim I had on being a victim of that injustice. It also helped me explain to others what I went through.

Better still, our Lord experienced far worse injustices so he can identify with us. Hebrews 12:2 (KJV) says we should be, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

We know too that a day will come when our sorrows will be no more. Revelation 21:4 (KJV) assures us of this. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

I should add that June Hunt's method is based on the scriptures. We read in 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV) that we should be "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

How wonderful it is that our Lord and Master understands our grief. He truly cares for us in so many diverse ways. This is something the world will never experience apart from him.

Bein' Green - by Gloria Guest

Unfinished projects. They make me feel defeated, unsatisfied with who I am. I so often find myself frustrated with who I am.  I have always related to a song sung by a frog (aka Jim Henson) called, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green.” I get it Kermit. I really do. I don’t find it easy being me (green) either.

Just as Kermit wished to be a more vibrant color that didn’t just blend in, after reading the accomplishments of my fellow Inscribers I often feel a little ‘green with envy’ and ‘green’ as in newbie, unaccomplished one, wishing to be one of the organized, disciplined ones; the ones that have projects on the go and manage to even complete some of them; the ones who actually publish their work instead of storing it in some poorly organized, forgotten file on their computer.

I do those things. I’ve spent some of my valuable time wondering why; but then, I still do them. As Paul laments in Romans, the things I know to do I don’t do….

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:21-25 NIV

I suspect there are many underlying reasons to my problem or to be more blunt as the apostle Paul, evil within. Because yes, any form of sin, including procrastination or anything that keeps us from doing what God asks of us, is in fact evil. I could blame it on a lack of praise for completed projects as a child by my parents, undervalued and unnoticed at school by teachers, and the list goes on. Somewhere I bought into the lie that my words should be kept to myself; perhaps even hoarded?

 A ghastly thought. I’m a hoarder of words. I picture my brain as an overstuffed house filled with crumpled paper, trashed words lying around in heaps. Not pretty. It causes me to want to get out the mental/spiritual broom and start sweeping. Perhaps some of those articles I’ve stored away were never meant for other eyes. Perhaps they simply helped me through a rough patch. Perhaps some of those crumpled papers need to be rescued. Maybe they weren’t as bad as I thought. But if so, then they need to be treated with the dignity that they deserve; that I deserved as a child. They need to be noticed, to be polished up and submitted somewhere.

None of this is easy for me. Honestly I find life in general challenging Every. Single. Day.  I am an incomplete project; which in fact we all are on the scale of life. However I know I am not meant to languish there. So what is my plan? I need to start by uncrumpling even just one piece of paper to share with others. One of my favorite verses about Jesus, the true author and finisher of all, points the way.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 KJV

I love that verse. It’s so complete. I hope it’s not sacra-religious to also add that I like how Kermit’s song ends; with a decision to be who he was meant to be. I may not ever be the most prolific author, the great novel writer or even simply the most organized, but with the help of Jesus, the one true author and finisher, I can be successful as me.