The Things We Hand Over

I can lose an embarrassing amount of an afternoon to something on a screen. By the time I put it down, I’ve argued with people who don’t know I exist and barely listened to someone sitting in the same room.

I suspect I’m not the only one.

We give our attention away so easily. Fear gets some. The need to be right gets plenty. Then we arrive at church hoping to hear God, and discover how much noise we’ve brought with us.

In Sunday’s Gospel, people try to draw Jesus into an argument about taxes and loyalty. He asks them to bring him a coin. It’s a wonderfully ordinary interruption in a conversation where everyone has an agenda.

I’ve been thinking about what we carry around without examining it—and how easily something can begin making demands on us before we notice.

Perhaps this week we could pay attention to what keeps claiming our attention. What does it ask of us? What does it leave us able to give the people we love?

I’ll be trying that myself. Probably after checking my phone.