Attentiveness

Hey there! Get excited because the word of the week is... attentiveness!

Attentiveness 

The old saying tells us that the devil is in the details, but I disagree; God is in the details. I believe that God reveals himself in literally everything around us. The sound of clicking keyboards, the cleanness of a right triangle, the chill when you open your refrigerator--everything. To find Him, we have to be attentive enough to notice the details and ask God why things are the way they are. 

So you want me to pay attention to everything...?

It's definitely a shift in mindset to pay attention to all the details around us and how they glorify God, but this mindset draws us closer to God by reminding us of His presence. Many would argue that I'm complicating things by saying that we can find God in, for example, the roughness of the carpet. "The roughness of the carpet doesn't prove anything about God," they would say. "It's merely a physical property of a man-made object." True, the carpet is man-made. True, the roughness is a quality of the object. However, I believe God gives us a large set of tools to discover Him, including our senses. God gives us everything we witness daily to search further into both His identity and our identities. In the previous example, God gave us the sense of touch and the carpet (indirectly). We discover through touching the carpet that it is rough. (This is where the virtue kicks in.) When we wonder why we feel this roughness, we consider the quantity of friction of the carpet and the anatomical explanation for how we physically feel this texture--science provided by God! Before I completely give away what a huge nerd I am (too late?), I'll end the carpet tangent. The point is that when we look at the world around us with a more critical, optimistic eye, we discover that God is constantly around us for support. He wants to make our day with the details of the spontaneous breeze or the bright color of an eraser! 

What about the negative details? 

However, I believe God is in the details of negative situation as well to teach us. God is there in the sting of a paper cut to remind us that he designed us to heal these minor wounds. God is there in our hunger before lunch to intensify the joy of the first bite. He is there in the long nights of work to show us how desperately we want to succeed. He is always there. We just have to be attentive to the details and reflect on the purpose of the situation. 

The Game Plan

This week, I challenge us to look for God in the details one sense at a time. I'm writing this right as Sunday is coming to a close, so we'll start out on Monday. 

Monday- Sight: 

Pay attention to colors, angles, light, etc. Try to find the beauty in everyone you talk to today. Bonus- complement them! (I wouldn't go as far as to comment on the angles in their forehead etc. though...)

Tuesday- Smell:

Be mindful of the smells around you. Find God's comfort in the smell of newly washed sheets or your coffee in the morning. 

Wednesday- Hearing:

Listen not only to what people say, but how they say it. I'm a huge language nerd, especially when it comes to poetry, so this is always a fun one for me. Listen when you turn a page or zip up your jacket. God's there. It's bizarre- I know, but it's all based on perspective. 

Thursday- Taste: 

Take small bites and really enjoy your food. Think about all those little tastes that crop up one at a time. Isn't it great that God gave us delicious food and the taste buds to witness it?

Friday- Touch: 

Notice the texture of the clothes you put on in the morning and the different things you touch as the day goes on. Your microwave handle, your spoon, your steering wheel, etc. God is there. 

Saturday- Your choice! 

Bible quotes for the week:

"The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both," (Proverbs 20:21).

Let's thank God for the senses we have and think about the glory in their intricate design. 

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped," (Isaiah 35:5).

What are we blind to? What have we not been hearing?

I hope you guys liked this one! Have a great week. 

Prayers up and anchors down, 

Katie :)

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