And we have learned how to avoid doing that really well, haven't we? We're so good at NOT paying attention that some of us have died by walking into a danger while staring at their cell phones. One of my dear friends was witness to a car in front of her house, being driven by someone staring at their phone, which ran over two people and drug one of them for many yards before the driver stopped. Horrific.
But even if we aren't talking about THAT extreme level of distractedness... we all do our best to keep our eyes and ears occupied every second of the day. We very seldom take time to stop, listen, and look around us. If one of us passed the man who'd been beaten and left for dead (which the good Samaritan had the kindness and decency to help), most of us (definitely including ME) would walk right on by. Not out of cold heartedness or indifference to their pain... but just engrossed in our devices and oblivious to the needs all around us.
So let's take home a message from Micah today. Let's turn our devices off (or at least put them on silent, and into our pocket) and look around. Listen. Open our hearts to the needs around us.
And then help.
Thank You, God, for reminding us to pay attention.
PS the picture above is of a tattoo inspired by the book Island by Aldous Huxley, in which birds fly around the island and cry out "attention! attention!" to help people practice mindfulness and learn to experience the current moment rather than worrying about the future or regretting the past.
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