Embrace Interruptions (Friday Devotional)

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

- Matthew 14:13-14

A couple of days ago, my daughter Katherine was the first one to wake up after me, wandering into the living room a few minutes after 6:00 AM. Having already had more than an hour to myself to drink my coffee and read, I was cleaning the coffee maker and sorting a load of laundry when she emerged.

After a minute or two, she asked me from across the room, “Daddy, would you like me to read a book to you?” Focused on my tasks, I initially told her not right now, but maybe some later.

Then a few seconds went by and I caught myself. Katherine, who is finishing up her kindergarten year, is working hard on her reading these days. What’s more, she loves it; she’ll happily spend as long as you’ll let her sounding out each word and making her way through a book.

We weren’t in a rush to get out the door yet. Neither of my tasks was time-sensitive. And my little girl was asking me to let her sit in my lap and practice her reading. So I dropped the laundry on the floor and curled up in the chair with her. Jobs could wait; it was time to read with my daughter.

In an overstimulating world full of distractions, it can feel like a rare thing to be truly focused on something, which makes it all the more frustrating when you’re interrupted. Oftentimes, such interruptions—the ding of a text message, the notification of another email—can and should be set to the side so that you can continue what you’re doing. But every now and then, interruptions are opportunities to differentiate between the urgent and the important.

In Jesus’ ministry, people always wanted something from him: a fresh word from God, a healing, a heavenly sign. Periodically, he would go off by himself to rest and pray. But on one occasion, the crowds would not even give him that moment, following him to his place of solitude.

Jesus could have demanded they respect his boundaries. He could have told them to make an appointment. Those would have been reasonable reactions. But instead, he saw their needs and had compassion on them, allowing love to override self-interest.

You don’t always get to plan your opportunities to serve others. Sometimes those moments come at the most bothersome of times, when you’re busy or exhausted or locked in on what you’re doing. But don’t let inconvenient timing make you lose sight of a chance to show God’s love. Maybe, in Jesus’ name and by the Spirit’s power, you can even do the most countercultural thing of all: for love's sake, embrace interruptions.