Distractions

It’s been a while—again. Not because nothing has been happening. I suppose you could say I’ve been distracted.

This happened.

Our dryer stopped heating. Being the wannabe DIY girl I am, I convinced my husband that it would be an easy fix—probably just a heating coil that needed replaced. Turns out, our particular brand of dryer had to be completely disassembled from the front. Completely disassembled. From the front. Yes, that means we had to take apart the entire dryer, including the drum. After several hours of that, we determined the dryer wasn’t worth repairing, and we sure didn’t want to put it together again.

I’ve been very thankful that I already had a clothesline I could set up. I wasn’t nearly thankful enough for the unseasonable rainy weather we had immediately after our dryer breakdown.

Then there was this.

Nothing puts a severe clog on display quite like a child turning on the faucet and walking away. The sink filled. So did the floor. My son and I took the drain apart all the way to the wall before finding the source of the problem. Then it was a game of Tetris to put all those pipes back correctly. Of course, we had to dry the entire bathroom floor with towels I then had to wash and then, you know, put on the line to dry.

We can’t forget this.

This was the Friday when my youngest stepped on a rusty nail. She’s up-to-date on tetanus shots, but that didn’t prevent it from immediately getting infected. To the doctor we went to get antibiotics. She was quite disappointed that they didn’t have any unicorn masks.

On a less stressful note, there was gardening to do, berries to pick, and livestock to manage. The rain does wonders for the cold-weather plants, but the weeds find it pretty helpful, too. I finally managed to uncover my onions and salad greens.

I won’t even talk about the bees. They’re an entire blog post of their own.

Believe it or not, I managed to take these things in stride. Okay, the nail worried me, but otherwise, cool as a breeze. Just ask my husband. On second thought, don’t.

Anyway, the reason I could take these things in stride is because I recognized them for what they were. Distractions.

The thing about distractions is that they can be good or bad. They can be good, as when we’re distracted by a funny incident that momentarily lifts the weight of grief. They can be bad, as when a distracted driver crosses the yellow line and destroys lives. They can even be sneaky, as when a “wizard” uses booming voices and powerful images to distract from the little man behind the curtain.

That’s what all these things were. Distractions.

There’s a lot going on in our country right now. A lot going on in the world. A lot going on that’s bad. In some ways I feel the same about them as I do about my dryer and bathroom drain and all the rest that’s been keeping my attention.

They’re distractions.

Don’t jump down my throat. I’m not saying that COVID-19 isn’t real or that racism isn’t a thing. Not at all. I do look at the chaos churning around us and think that everything is, to use a term from blogger and speaker Heidi St. John, “bananas.” I can’t help but think that all of it—the overreaching yet spineless government, the divisions over race and whether to wear a mask (seriously?), the riots, the defacing of history, CHAZ—all of it is one big smokescreen. We’re being distracted. Moreover, there’s a sneak attack on our flank by fear, hate, division, and chaos. That all tells me one thing.

We’re not each other’s enemies. We have a bigger problem.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12 ESV).

Did you catch that? Not against flesh and blood. Our enemy is less visible, and much stronger. I’m not saying this to scare you out of your socks. There’s more to the story. That verse is one part of a larger passage:

 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:10-18a ESV, emphasis mine).

Believers, Christ-followers, have armor—truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, and salvation, all there to guard us again that big, bad enemy. We even have a weapon—just one. We have the Word of God as our weapon and our prayers to wield it.

Let’s make no mistake. God has won the war. He defeated sin on the cross and death by rising from the tomb. If we have faith in Christ, the devil can’t touch us, not in any way that matters.

He can distract us, and he’s good at it. He’s great at sneaky little sleight of hand that gets us to look the other way and ignore what he’s really up to. He’s good at making us focus on the symptoms instead of the disease.

So what do we do?

Don’t fall for it. Recognize the smoke screen, make sure your armor is in place, and raise your weapon. I’ll warn you from personal experience that when you go on the offensive, you’ll get pushback. Heaven knows, your dryer might even break. But that’s okay, because you’re really not the one fighting. Hear these words:

“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14:14).

“You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you” (Deut. 3:22).

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

There are more where those came from. I said it before. What we have, what the whole human race has, is a sin problem.  Only one name can cut through the distractions and get to the root. What you need to do—what I need to do, what we all need to do—is pick up our Bibles and fall on our knees to use the weapon we have to fight our real enemy.

And don't get distracted.