It’s six in the morning and my alarm is going off. The first words in my head are not exactly polite, and my instinct is to simply roll over and snooze the alarm. But I get up and get on my clothes. I then put my grind guard away, take a moment and chat with Barb and head downstairs. Next come my shoes, camelback, hat, sunglasses and air pod in one ear, and off I go. Since the end of school, I have been jogging and walking the rail trail from the church all the way out to Washington Ave.
While I do not like running or jogging, there are aspects that I love. From the occasional sighting of a deer, to the uncountable bunnies who seem to run along with me only to dart into the brush as I get closer, even the wildflowers make the jog less like exercise and a task. There are little things that make the little over six-mile trek more manageable or at least more enjoyable.
You might wonder why it is that I go and do something that I don’t enjoy six days out of the week (I take Sundays as a day of rest). The answer is because its exercise, and I enjoy an aspect of my time. There is just something about being out and hearing the sound of the wind blowing in the Queen Anne’s Lace. There is just something amazing about listening to the different birds, robins, kill deer, gold finches and the like as they sing their morning songs. As I move past the culverts, I can hear the water rushing, and the wetlands are full of frogs singing their songs. Even the music on my air pod is drowned out by the sounds of creation. It’s a time of just me, creation and God.
But like life, there are some unpleasant noises that reverberate over the fields. You’d be amazed how the trucks j braking on 209 can carry over them. Or how absolutely loud the sound of a group of Semis can be as they roar together down the thruway. Even the blare of the horn from the fire company can be heard over two miles down the trail. It takes a lot of concentration to hear the sounds of nature and not have them drowned out by the noise. The reality is that a goldfinch cannot compete with a pack of trucks, and a deer lazily walking across the path while beautiful doesn’t snap your head around like the screech of someone braking rapidly on a road.
There are days when it’s more difficult to focus on moving forward and accomplishing the task. There are a lot of names that the distractions may have. Noises that are out of place on the trail, pain anywhere, a child on roller skates who insists on asking question after question after question. All of these and their many cousins all seem to happen and distract. The challenge is being able to exist and continue while those distractions occur, move forward and be focused in spite of the distractions.
How do we keep our faith as free from distractions as possible? Practice. Both the practice of constant use of coping methods, little things that bring us back into focus, as well as spiritual practices. Taking time and placing focus on prayer, on reading scripture, on doing the little things that increase and sustain our faith. The more we actively do these things the better we are at keeping focused on our faith and God. Life is filled with many more distractions than a run along the rail trail. The noise is louder and the challenge of keeping focus is even greater as we work and seek to keep on our faith track. It doesn’t mean that we will always manage to silence the distractions or succeed in keeping our focus on God and serving God. But the more we practice and engage in the practices of the spirit the more we are able to keep on track and keep on growing in our faith.
Take the time to find your faith focus. Make the effort to not let the distractions diminish or sidetrack your faith. And most of all may it flourish and grow, like creation does after a good rain. Amen