Pay Attention

7 Jun

“It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our noses is what we see last.”  ~ William Barrett

Times I have been to the Sears Tower (or whatever they call it now): 1
Times I have been to the Field Museum: 1
Times I have been to the Museum of Science and Industry: 3
Times I have taken a Chicago River tour: 0
Present age: going on 62

And, you know what?  I am not unique.  There are slews of people who have lived in one place for a long time, who have rarely seen the local sights.  For some reason, we tend to ignore what surrounds us.  Insurance companies would verify that.  They state that the majority of accidents take place within a 50 mile radius of our home.  Why is that?  Well, we tend to ignore what is all around us because we have seen it so often it blends in with everything else.  That is why people can legitimately say that they “did not see” the stop sign or stop light.  They had become such a common place occurrence that some people no longer paid attention to them.

We tend not to notice the physical changes that herald illness when we see someone every day.  It takes someone who has been away for months to point out what we should notice.  We tend to miss signs of abuse or neglect for the same reasons.  It becomes so commonplace to us that we do not even consider the danger someone may be in.

As fraught with peril as these examples are, they lead us to something just as huge:  the love of God is all around us.  The beauty of God is all around us.  The presence of God is all around us.  Yet, bathed in God’s love day in and day out, we run the risk of tuning God out if we do not make it our intention to look for Him in our daily lives.

God does not ignore us.  He sustains us day in and day out.  He gives us the breath that we take in and pumps the blood via our beating hearts.  He gives us strength to function and eyesight to appreciate the beauty all around us.  He fills our senses and blesses our souls.  Yet, treated to this on a regular basis, we quit looking for Him or acknowledging Him.  We begin to think that all we do and all we have achieved is on our own.

Doing so runs the risk of missing the reminders of God around us and losing our way.  We need to pay attention to all that surrounds us and to the many gifts that we have been given.  If we practice, on a regular basis, giving thanks to God, we will not ignore what comes our way.

FAITH ACTION:  Have a firm intention to notice the many blessings that come your way today and give thanks to God for them.  While you are at it, thank those who do for your this day as well.