What if you knew that what you were about to say was the last thing you’d say to someone; to anyone at all?

What if all the distractions in this life were keeping you from noticing the thing, the person, the small something that was the reason in the first place?

What if the attention you’re paying to someone or something is less than the best one or thing?  That it’s sucking the liquid in your eyeballs  from staring too hard and the space in your brain right dry?   That it’s causing you to strive for what you don’t really need or want? That the virtual world is more real than real is?  That you keep forgetting to look up and take stock?

What if, on the way to getting somewhere, you passed where you were supposed to be?

What if you didn’t notice that someone had just told you they loved you because they did it quiet with a meal or a sentence written on a card?  Or yelled it at you to get your attention and you yelled back because you thought they were mad?  What if your kid needs you more than whoever just texted you or what if you missed all the status updates for a day….or four….and made the voice overs stop so your heart could think?  Who or what needs your attention really?

 My girl and I made this sign when the days passed eager to get to our new school this year.  I wanted to pose the question to myself and to the kids I’d yet to meet.  What kind of person do I want to become……because I am living out the story of redemption, either the how to or the how not to.

What if something happened that forced you to pay attention to your choices?  What if that’s what Love decided for you since He died for you?  So that you wouldn’t miss the point.

“”Wake yourself, wake yourself…stand up, Oh Jerusalem!  (Is. 51)  Awake, awake!  Put on your strength, Oh Zion! (Is. 52)  I can hear it whisper in my soul as I make my way through my day, the slow and steady drumming of enticement for my attention that bites at my mind and heels.  I pace the floors in the school gym calling for the dross of distraction to burn off of us all.  We don’t have time, we don’t have time……I want to warn people……we don’t have the luxury to waste our time.

Pay attention to your attention.