* I Have Half a Mind to...

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment."
Matthew 22:36-38 NLT

Have you ever driven down a road that you've been on countless times before and "all of a sudden" see something that you've never seen before and you ask the person riding with you, 'When did that go up?' - or - 'How did that get there?' Then that person looks at you as though you're crazy and replies, 'That's always been there!'  It seems unbelievable to them that you've never seen it, but it's just as unbelievable to you that it's always been there.

Well, don't feel too badly. If you're usually the one driving, most of your attention is probably on the road (as it should be). Half of my mind is occupied with the road, and in all actuality, the other half is probably divided into several bits and pieces - the conversation at hand, kids/grandkids, work, the never-ending to-do list...

Here in the southwestern part of the U.S., a familiar colloquial phrase is 'I have half a mind to   (fill in the blank)  .'  And loosely, it implies that you're thinking about doing something, but you're not actually following through to physically do it... but with a little more thought, you might be motivated to follow through.

Here's where all this got sticky for me. How many times have I been guilty of allowing myself to be distracted by junk? Things barely worth noticing in the first place, let alone worth a second thought, but all the more distracting because I have only applied half my mind toward whatever I should be thinking about? Let me get down to the bare bones - how many times am I guilty of allowing myself to be distracted by cares of this world or email notifications or text message pings because I only have half my mind on Jesus instead of all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? How many times - with just a little more thought - could I have been motivated to actually follow through with what my heart was telling me to do?

Prayer:

Father,
           I want to love You and live for You with all my heart, all my soul and ALL my mind fixed on You. Forgive me for all the half-measures and half-attempts and all the times I only had half a mind on You, Lord. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen