“THE MAIN THING”

A good friend of ours, Barry McGee, has a comedy routine that he summarizes at the end saying, “Remember, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!”

 I received an e-mail not too long ago, that described an unfocused day in my life to a “T.”  Here’s just a sample of the beginning.

            I decide to wash my car.  As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall
            table.  I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.   I lay my car keys down on the
            table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full.
            I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first, but then I think, since
            I am going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the
            bills first.

            I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left.  My extra checks
            are on the desk upstairs, where I find a can of Coke that I had been drinking.  I’m going to
            look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock
            it over.  The Coke is getting warm, so I decide to put it in the refrigerator. 

            As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye.
            They need to be watered.  I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading
            glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.  I need to put them back on the desk so I’ll
            have them to pay bills, but first I’m going to water the flowers.  I set the glasses back down
            on the counter, fill a container with water … 

…And so it goes!

            At the end of the day:  the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’t paid, there’s a warm can of Coke
            sitting on the counter, the flowers aren’t watered, and there is still only one check in my checkbook. 
            I try to figure out why nothing got done today.  I’m really baffled because I know I
            was busy all day long, and I’m really tired.  I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to
            get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail.

I discovered that the diagnosis for this is called A. A. A. D. D. – Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.  I like to call it a less offensive label:  “I’m Multi-tasking.”  I’m afraid the latter only applies if you actually accomplish something by the end of the day.

There’s a story in Matthew 8:18-23 where Jesus exemplifies staying on course.

            “Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side.  And a certain scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow You where-ever You go.’  And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’  And another of the disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’  But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead.’  And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.”

This scripture always annoyed me, until I grew up and realized how distractible I am.  It seemed that Jesus was a little harsh on the man who wanted to bury his father.  In reality, He knows how distractible we are and He wants us to “keep the main thing, the main thing!”  He knew that the chances of the man in His illustration coming back and following him were pretty slim if he “went back” to bury the dead.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these THINGS shall be added unto you.”  “THINGS” means anything important to you.  Jesus always has a way of getting down to the “heart” of issues.  He’s not into “band-aid fixes.”   

King David had this figured out.  He said in Psalms 5:3 “In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;  In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.”  First things first!

Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.”

Isaiah 50:4b says, “He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.”

Life will always have distractions, but if we “remember to keep the main thing the main thing,” and seek God’s heart before anything else, He will “order our steps” and make us productive in spite of our A. A. A. D. D.  Most of all, we will learn to really know Him and build our relationship with The Creator of the entire universe!  It just doesn’t get better than that!

Linda Smiley