iPhone Face

Ever gone out and the person across from you looked like this:

Yeah. Worse part is, I’m sure I’ve resembled that picture myself. Ugh. It is all too easy when these phones do so much, making sure we’re always available to the entire world. And then it almost becomes a tick, you hear the ding that you got a new voice mail, or email, or text, or Facebook post…you try to ignore it, but you start to twitch, your eyes stray to your phone, and before you know it, it’s in your hand.

Don’t act like you’ve never been there.

I’ve worked really, really hard to break this habit, mainly because I hated being the recipient of it—it kinda makes you feel unimportant. So imagine my surprise when I was doing my Bible study the other day and God called me out for doing this to Him.

See, I’d slept in later than I should have, but still wanted to squeeze the time in. I sat at the kitchen table when the kids were in the kitchen. I answered questions, made breakfast, even got up to throw in a load of laundry…all the while “doing my Bible study”. (yeah, those quotes are me doing the little quote thing with my fingers.)

And as I sat back down after one more interruption, right then is when God gave me the picture of my distraction. There He sat, at the table I’d invited Him to, trying to talk with me, and I kept getting up and leaving. It was the equivalent to going out and having the person I'm with stick their phone in their face--something I'm pretty sure NONE of us like.

Yet, how often do we do that? Sit with God then give in to other distractions. Holding our finger up and saying, “Just one sec here, God. I need to handle this.”

Oh. There is so much wrong with that statement!

I need to handle? Just one sec? Ugh. And then we wonder why He’s so silent.

God has so much He wants to say to us. He loves us with a love that is beyond imagine. And He’s just sitting, waiting for us…and so often we walk away.

But here’s the thing. He’s still there, waiting. With His unfailing love.

So today I’ve got another challenge for you. If you don’t have quiet time with Him on a daily basis, carve out a moment for it—even if it’s only five minutes. And if you do, make sure you don’t let distractions interrupt that time.

And I’d love to know—any of you been on the giving or receiving of what I like to call iPhone Face?