Pay Attention

Before he announced his "being handed over" (arrested), Jesus urged the disciples to "pay attention" (cf. Lk 9:43b).  How often do people say things and we are thinking of something else and don't hear them?  How many times have you said something and people turn and say, "What was that?"  or repeat something totally different from what you said?  Our minds are not always fully focused and we MISS a lot, to say the least.  Jesus tries to get our attention as a parent or teacher would with the directive, "Pay attention."  .."Listen up".   This might perk our ears enough and open our minds to absorb the spoken word, but it is also an invitation to read signs that call to us from events, the body language of other people, and the beauty and sounds of nature.  God is calling for our attention constantly in a variety of ways; sadly, we are not always paying attention and miss the message. The pace at which we live, the numerous "irons in the fire" the amount of things on our "to do" list, these distract, keep us from the present moment, and deafen us to the daily contacts God tries to make with us.  Lord, help me to pay better attention to you, starting NOW!
Bro. Rene