Pay Attention.

I was driving to work this morning through the back streets of our little village, paying attention to my surroundings. I have been working on that…paying attention. Usually I am in my head checking off my to-do list or writing my sermon, or thinking of people I need to visit, my grocery list….but today I was concentrating on paying attention.

I realized how many businesses had come and gone since we moved here from Michigan. I saw new buildings and space where old buildings once stood, I noticed new paint and new signs and new roads. Even my driving habits are different, what roads I take more often, where I go. There are new people in my life too, people whose lives are now intertwined with mine. And people I miss who are no longer in my everyday-circle.

I was struck by how much life changes all the time. We age, we move and our work changes, our friends change, our children grow. It is hard sometimes to deal with these changes but they are universal to the human experience. Everything changes, always.

I have also been thinking a lot about our story from last Sunday about Abigail. What a remarkable women she was. She was intelligent, wise and humble. Her faithfulness to her community, her God and to those within her family, was pretty astounding given her life circumstances. Talk about change, Abigail’s life took a 180 degree turn, virtually everything changed. Easy for us to say, “Well, it was for the good.” Even good change is often very difficult. Wonder how it was for her to save her people, lose her husband, become David’s wife?

I love the stories of the Old Testament, how human they are, how dramatic they are, how like us they were, how like them, we are. I love that for thousands of years we have been learning from them. I am reminded how important it is to pay attention.