Guard your attention
Our Twitter and Facebook habits make praying harder than ever. But before we look at the stats, let’s take a moment to appreciate the magic of conscious life, the capacity to focus on one thing, like this article and this unfolding sentence, following it along until it ends with a little dot. No doubt, as a reader, you’re fighting the chronic digital urge to skim. We give our attention because we have attention to give. With our attention we can attend to one thing and avert from another thing. The power to fixate is part of God ’s miracle in creation. Without attention, faith would be impossible. God not only created us to live and breathe and walk, like his other creatures; he wants us also to believe in him and to trust his word, to listen. The full scope of our affectional life becomes precious when we see it as our capacity to attend . Mind-setting is the basis of our devotion to Christ , and it gives rise to eve...