Rev. David Horton

Proverbs 7:1-3
1 My child, keep my words
   and store up my commandments with you;
2 keep my commandments and live,
   keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;
3 bind them on your fingers,
   write them on the tablet of your heart.

Reflection:
“Wait. I missed that. What did you say?” And my wife has to tell me the entire story all over again.

I tuned her out. There’s no other explanation. I tuned her out. I wish it wasn’t so common. I’ll be sitting right beside her on the couch, or directly across from her at the table, and she’s telling me something important about her day—conflict she had with a colleague, or joy she found in her work, or a confusing text message from a friend, things I wouldn’t find so important, but to her, it’s worth her words and my attention. But I tuned her out. My mind wanders to my to-do list or an email I need to send, something unfinished that I need to take care of, but there she is, my family, and that’s the unfinished project I need to be taking care of.

It’s a matter of attending to what’s in front of me: quite literally, the person or thing in my line of vision at that moment. I find that when I’m not attending to what’s in front of me, that’s when my mind wanders and I forget things. My body is present; my brain is on Saturn.

It’s why I forgot my daughter’s lunchbox the other day. There it was, on the kitchen counter, in my line of vision, but my brain was already checking email.

It’s why I turned around in the Kroger parking lot and went back to the car. I left the house without my wallet, and I forgot my wallet because my brain was writing a sermon.

So how do I fix this? Proverbs gives me practical wisdom: attend to what’s in front of you. The author tells his child to keep these commandments on his “fingers” and “heart.” It’s a fresh interpretation of a teaching from Deuteronomy, that the people should write Scripture on little scrolls and, when praying, attach the scrolls to their foreheads and biceps (see Deuteronomy 6:8). But the author of Proverbs sees a problem with that: you can’t see what’s on your forehead (unless you’re looking in a mirror), and you’re probably not looking at your bicep! If you want to give this wisdom your full attention, put it in front of you. Literally, wrap it around your fingers, and figuratively in your heart.

It means that if something matters to me, I must put it directly in front of me. The reverse is also true: I must attend to what’s directly in front of me, because it matters. Attend to the person in front of you now. Put the lunchbox and wallet in your line of vision before leaving the house. Put your phone down, close your laptop, shut down the to-do list in your mind, and look in front of you. Those people in front of you, they matter. They might need you. Tune in. Don’t tune out.

 

Closing Prayer:

Lord, I have vision but I do not see. Help me to see the people who need compassion today. Help me to see the people who are counting on me today. Help me to see you in the beautiful mess around me. Help me to see. In the name of Christ. Amen.