Your attention please Jason F. Sep 07
I used to think time was the most limited resource. It’s so limited that you can’t even save it for later. Every day you spend more time, and tomorrow you have less than you had yesterday. You can’t make more, and you can’t really buy more, so it’s limited and fleeting and those are the rules.
But there’s something even more limited than time. It’s your attention. Attention is a subset of time, therefore it’s more limited. How you spend your attention is more important than how you spend your time.
Attention is about focus and careful, thoughtful consideration. Unlike time – which can be broken into convenient chunks of 15 minutes – attention doesn’t divide quite so neatly or easily.
You hear a lot about “quality time” being valuable, but I think quality attention is invaluable. Giving someone your attention is giving more than just giving your time.
The greatest things you make and do are the ones that get your full attention. It’s helpful to take an inventory of what you’re doing and then ask yourself where you’re spending your best attention. You can fill your time, but you have to spend your attention. How you spend it is probably a better measure of priority than anything else.
Next time you say yes to something, ask yourself if yes means “yes, I can do that” or “yes, I can spend my attention on that.” If you’re not willing to spend your attention on it, is it worth doing? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a good thing to think about the next time you take something on.
This is an excellent post from 37Signals about the importance of attention.
As I read it, I thought of the story from Luke 8:40-48. Jesus is on his way to heal the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader. On the way, a woman who has been bleeding internally for 12 years touches the fringe of Jesus' robe, believing that it will finally heal her of her hemorrhaging.
In the middle of the crowd's traveling with him, Jesus stops. No one saw the woman touch the Savior's robe. Peter tells Jesus that everyone is pressing in on Jesus - they are all touching him! Yet Jesus knows one person touched him with faith and purpose, not selfishness and rock-star awe.
In that moment, Jesus gives the woman his attention. He gives her his ears as he listens to her explain her past predicament. He gives her his eyes as he looks upon this precious and desperate woman. He gives her his blessing because of her well-placed faith. In the middle of the busyness, in the middle of traveling with purpose, in the middle of the crowd, Jesus gives the gift of his full attention.
I'm teaching at Restore on September 18th about "The Art of Acting Intentionally" as part of the series on relationships entitled "Love at Last Sight." Despite how the title sounds, this is not a "marriage series." You can learn the art of acting intentionally to help ALL of your relationships. Learning how to give your full attention will help you live life with relational excellence - and live like Jesus.
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