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What gets your attention?




I was on retreat last week and I was powerfully reminded of our human tendency to be called away from the most important things in life, by mundane and unimportant things.

The best illustration of this is predictably our fascination with technology. The mobile phone ring, the beep when you get a text message, email, notification…….  And that instant desire to respond, to look, and to see what you are being called to. It can by its noisy insistence - that it is the most important thing in our life- call us way from proper priorities.

Then on retreat I was presented with a disciplined community that had at its centre the call of God; and for them it was the bell that called them to prayer. That bell ‘re-called’ them consistently through the day back, always back, to their essential reliance upon God. It made me realise that I let too many distractions call me away from God.

When I got back from retreat there was a small miracle that brought this all together. The St Andrew’s clock bell had been broken for some time due to lack of funds for it to be fixed. Then, as if by God’s grace, as I was sitting in my garden that Saturday morning I heard the bell strike. Some devoted and talented men from our church had fixed it themselves for under £10!

We have to keep deciding in life what we are going to pay attention to. We need constant reminders (as modern technology is only too aware) of what we should be attending to. Do I want to be controlled by email or by God? Do I want to be reminded that another person is trying to communicate with me, or do I want to be reminded that God loves me? Of course modern technology is incredibly helpful, but I mustn’t let it control me. We have created a society in which we are expected to be available almost all of the time. These nuns had created a community whereby it was God that had their constant attention; they had privacy, stability, discipline, work, leisure and most of all devotion to God and His call.

The nuns I stayed with were well aware that the tendency in life is to turn away from God, from what is important, what is holy, what is true, what is right. So, these holy people ensure that each day the bell calls them over and over again to remember their true nature in communion with God. Alleluia for that. Alleluia for Church bells that remind us of God’s presence with us. What are you going to attend to today?

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