Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: Blocking Out Distractions

The roar of motorcycles rolls through our church every Sunday morning. Our location is across the street from a famous retailer. Motorcyclists gather each Sunday morning in the retailer's parking lot before going on a ride together. They rev up their engines as they leave, drowning out the sound within our church building.

The loud exit often occurs in the midst of the sermon. It might happen earlier, during a discussion in the Sunday School hour.

Nothing is inherently wrong with what the bikers are doing. They simply represent a distraction. It's the same with many distractions in our lives; nothing is wrong with them, but we don't need them to pop up in our heads at the wrong times.

How many of you have started to pray and drifted into a to-do list evaluation? That's me, for sure. Even when I'm praying with my wife, I might stumble over an outside thought that causes me to lose focus.

How do we block out distractions when we're praying or meditating or studying scripture? Henri Nouwen compared distractions to an unwelcome visitor knocking on our door. The knocking may be persistent for a while. The visitor may return and try again. But eventually, the visitor goes away if they're ignored.

Our mental discipline is similar. If we don't answer the distractions at the door, we gradually train our brain to ignore distractions.

I'm not so successful at this approach. I find it more helpful to keep a notepad handy. I simply write down the idea or problem or reminder so that I don't forget it, then return to prayer or meditation (or even sleep - a different kind of healthy discipline). This method allows me to place the distraction "over there" and not pick it up again.

If you have a distraction-beating method, please share it in the comments below. We could all use it!