distractions

What did patients do before there was a tv in every room?  
Did they heal faster in the peace?  Did they die of boredom?  I'm curious.  In so many rooms the tv is on twenty four hours a day.  Bonanza, The Price is Right, HGTV.  Always on in the background.  While I'm introducing myself, while I'm trying to hear about them, while we try to talk, during prayer.  It makes it almost impossible to concentrate.  And so hard to compete! If our conversation is going any where I am learning to ask if I can turn the tv down, so we can talk without as much distraction.


I was thinking about this and wondered what are the continuous distractions in my life?  What do I need to turn down in order to hear better?


An idea from Eugene Peterson.  When we are noisy, when we are hurried, we are incapable of intimacy - deep complex, personal relationships. If God is the living center of redemption, it is essential that we be in touch with and responsive to that personal will. 


I love the focus described in this verse.


Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.  Psalm 5:1-3 The Message