Paying Attention
When I think of a walk in the woods from my childhood, I remember trails in Tennessee state parks. When I think of a walk in the woods from our children’s childhoods, I often remember hiking on a trail in Turkey Run State Park in Indiana. We walked other trails but that one is vivid in my memory. During hikes, I would sometimes tell the children to stop and turn all the way around—360 degrees—to help them take in the whole scene.
Taking in the entire scene is a good practice on other days, too. By that I mean, taking in all that is going on around us. It is a wise thing to do many times every day. It gives us a chance really to be in the moment.
I’ve written before about my brilliant husband. His knowledge astounds me. When I ask him again, “How did you know that?” he tells me, as he has for decades, “I pay attention.”
Paying attention makes a difference. How many times have we said to our children, “Pay attention!” or “Listen to me”?
1858 Drawing by Daniel Huntington of a man listening.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, Bequest of Erskine Hewitt.
Keep saying it. Keep reminding them. Keep getting their attention. Keep calling them back to the moment. Keep helping them be in the moment, to be present. Help them hear and see and taste and feel and smell what is around them right now—not with heads buried in an electronic device, but in the real world. God created us to take in all of those things.
Don’t do it in an exasperating way, but in an inviting way. And make sure that what they hear and see and taste and feel and smell is good.
Paying attention is a basic stepping stone to learning—not only to learning traditional school subjects, but also to learning about God and about life.
Children aren’t the only people who need to be reminded to pay attention. In Psalm 34, David reminds us:
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalm 34:8
When Peter and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain where He was transfigured before them, God got their attention (emphasis added).
While [Peter] was still speaking,
a bright cloud overshadowed them,
and behold, a voice out of the cloud said,
“This is My beloved Son,
with whom I am well-pleased;
LISTEN to Him!”
Matthew 17:5