don't run away from sloth

St John Cassian tells us today not to run from sloth in A Year with the Church Fathers. He says that if we run away whenever the enemy tempts us with laziness, he'll just tempt us with that over and over so we run away.

And I think we can see a very practical application of this advice today. Instead of sloth, or laziness, I think we are tempted with distraction today. And what do we do when we're tempted to be distracted from doing good? We run to some other distraction. Many of us today go from distraction to distraction... from listening to music to watching a show to watching a movie to listening to a podcast. None of those things are inherently bad. But we also need some time during the day to be silent... to listen for His voice. There are things He wants to tell us from time to time, which we'll only hear in His "still small voice."

So the next time you're tempted to distract yourself.... instead, try being silent for a few minutes. You might be surprised what you hear.

God, thanks for teaching us about laziness and distractions.