It happened again.  Another ‘interruption’.  With the deadline pressing to finish the task of this column, I’ve met repeated ‘interruptions’ from people with needs.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love people.  But isn’t that how it goes?  Like the Blues Brothers, you’re on a mission from God.  You have places to go and things to do and then, ‘interruptions’, people with needs, seem to show up and slow you down.

We live in a culture of task-driven demands where productivity defines our purpose.  So when you add people into the mix, life gets messy and delayed.  People are not like objects we can control.  People need to be listened to, cared for, and understood.  People need kindness, respect, and compassion.  Being personal takes time that curbs productivity, at least initially.  Thus, as the reality of my life sets in, I repeatedly realize that I live in a tension between the demand of tasks and the needs of people. 

Walking the tightrope of this tension is not easy to do.  I’ve fallen off more times than I can count.  But my sense is that much depends upon how I discern and react to the interruptions of life.  That is, holding the tension requires becoming a person who, like Jesus, is focused with purposefulness defined by God rather than either productivity or people’s needs.

God gave Jesus the biggest mission of all, the reconciliation of people with God.  And if you look at Jesus’ life, you’ll see the interruptions that threatened to sidetrack and drain him from accomplishing his mission.  Pick a chapter, any chapter, where Jesus heals people (e.g. Matthew 8 or 9) and you will be able to see what I mean.   Every healing, occurs while Jesus was on his way someplace.  The people who are healed are people who interrupt Jesus as he is on the move.  Jesus, like us, could have easily become bogged down by the tyranny of the urgent tasks and needs before him.

Yet Jesus kept his focus.  When he was interrupted, he didn’t react with distain or resentment.  Nor did he forget where he was going.  Instead he acted purposefully in a personal way that is in line with where he was going.  As a result, the healing Jesus brought was always different than expected and beyond the immediate needs presented.  By discerning the situation in light of his life-giving purpose, Jesus stays focused on God and so his reaction produces life in their soul as well as their body.  He fulfills his purpose rather than just meeting the demand of the task or just seeking to please people.

You see, Jesus only did what the Father told him to do.  His life was full but it wasn’t frenzied.  This is because Jesus was a man of prayer.  His purposeful life came from a constant connecting and realigning of his purpose within the grasp of God’s love and direction.  It was through prayer that Jesus remained God-driven.  It was through prayer that Jesus kept his footing focused as he walked life’s tightrope-tension of tasks and people.  Prayer allowed Jesus to discern with purposeful hands the ‘interruptions’ of his life.  The same can be true for us if we will purposefully live our lives within his grasp through continual prayer.

                                          Seeking His Purposefulness,

                                                         Mark