Scripture
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper.’Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
LUKE 10: 30-35
Quotes/Color
“My whole life, I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
Henri Nouwen
“Turn interruptions into opportunities.”
Henri Nouwen
“The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.”
C.S. Lewis
“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God, who will thwart our plans and frustrate our ways time and again, even daily, by sending people across our path with their demands and requests. We can, then, pass them by, preoccupied with our important daily tasks, just as the priest-perhaps reading the Bible-passed by the man who had fallen among robbers. When we do that, we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised in our lives to show us that God’s way, and not our own, is what counts.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
John Wooden
Context
Those quotes by Nouwen, Lewis, Bonhoeffer and Wooden are great and I’ll but I’ve got some worthwhile insight I’d like to add as well…
Application
Until a few years ago, I found that when I came across things in life that slowed me down and pulled me in a different direction, I got rather aggravated.
Slow people. Loud people. Insecure people. Self-centered people. Overly inquisitive people. People who ask for a sliver of my time when I’m already short on it. Chatty people. People who can’t get the job done. Inconsiderate people. Emotional people. Lonely people. Incompetent people.
Aye aye aye. What a waste of time. They’re all so time consuming and keep me from getting to what really needs to get done. These people who don’t know how to pull it together and prioritize what needs to be prioritized in the moment are exhaustingly inefficient…
However… Here is the turn… The more I’ve taken on in life (responsibility, leadership, commitments, et cetera), the more I realize this… That things do not go according to plan. They just don’t. And that is okay.
You’re going to get pulled in a different direction when you’re on your way to something important. Just expect it. You’re going to get pulled in a different direction when you’ve got plans to catch up on something you’ve put off for too long. Just expect it. Someone is going to need your friendship/leadership/companionship when you’ve got something you think is better to do. Just expect it.
The key to when these interruptions come?
Model yourself off of Jesus and what many call his “ministry of interruptions” (interruptions of healings, interruptions of confronting sin, interruptions of confronting pain – all while on the way to something/some place else). The ministry of Jesus was a long string of embraced interruptions.
In the same way, the life of the Christ-followers life should not be one characterized by an assurance that their priorities are best… The Christian is characterized by a heart that not only tolerates interruptions patiently, but welcomes them, knowing they are not pulling one away from life, but are in fact life itself.
Something to Chew On:
- Who are you constantly interrupted by in life? (Put a name on it. Perhaps a needy friend? Kids? Family members? A peer who can’t quite catch on to what needs to be done?) How can you turn your interactions with them into an opportunity to improve the situation and display the love of Christ?
- What worldly priorities in your life do you need to surrender to more readily and eagerly embrace interruptions like Jesus?
- Interruptions aren’t efficient… but if you neglect them, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to be effective
Great Value Proverb:
Interruptions Aren’t Part of Life… They are Life.