God has my attention in way lately that I’ve not ever experienced before. I’m not very old, but I’m approaching 40 which involves a new level of reflection that comes with knowing that if I’m going to do anything important, I better get on with it. So I ask, what can I do that could be considered important? And, what defines important?
Flannery O’Conner’s words are vital for me at this moment of increased reflection: “I do not know You God because I am in the way.” Earlier in this passage, she refers to God as the moon, but only a sliver of the moon can be seen because her own shadow blocks the rest.
Along with Flannery, I desire to get out of the way. This is the only means by which I will know what is important. An accurate and clear vision of God is required. And what prevents this from happening? My own shadow.
In this season, which I hope is only the beginning of the best years of my life, my greatest discovery is that attention is the most valuable asset we have. You become what you pay attention to. So, pay attention to God. This takes time.
It also requires patience. It was 40 years after Moses fled from Egypt that God appeared to him in a burning bush, which was a total of 80 years after Moses was left in a basket as a baby. God wants our attention, but don’t expect him to take it from you. Our gaze must be turned toward him. Yet, so often our gaze is turned toward ourselves; toward our own vision of what is important.
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:25-26 (ESV)
William Knelsen 
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