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On Faith & Family: Distractions and the family 

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On Faith and Family

By Leah Gibson of Paso Robles

Just in case this is your first time reading one of my articles, let me give you an instant replay and fill you in on the deets: My husband and I have been married for four years now and we have two baby boys only thirteen months apart. Our oldest son’s name is Grant and he is two and a half and our younger son’s name is Colton and he is now one and a half.

We’ve had a million and ten things happen in our family over the last four years. Both good and bad. We’ve had siblings on both sides of our family get engaged, marriages, birth announcements, job changes, promotions, pregnancy’s, pregnancy complications, NICU stays, late nights, early mornings and hectic afternoons as well as recently returning from a three-month visit to Arizona.

Leah Gibson

Leah Gibson

We are now knee-deep into a five hundred square foot house addition/ remodel. Yet if you were to ask me what we’re up to, I’d probably shrug my shoulders and say, “Oh, nothin’ much. You?” My guess is that your life is probably a little crazy at the moment too, but I think we can all agree that reciting the list upon being asked the simple question tends to scare strangers, so we revert to stereotypical answers.

Recently, I’ve been trying to make more of a conscious effort to establish a “New Normal” with our kids since everything has been so unpredictable recently. Part of our new schedule entails fitting in a visit to the store almost every other day to replenish the pantry since our living space is small right now. My oldest son Grant HATES sitting in the shopping cart, so my husband and I have undergone the task of training him to walk beside us as often as we can. Sometimes I dread going to the store because I know that it’s going to take fifteen times longer letting Grant walk due to the hundreds of shiny little people sized distractions that around every corner.

One day, I was in a hurry. I was trying my best to keep Grant by my side, but like every other toddler on the planet, he had his own grocery store agenda. At one point, I noticed that Colton was wearing a sly smile on his face as he looked past me toward his older brother. Suddenly, both of them burst into fits of giggles. I looked behind me to find my son Grant in the clothing department with a double D sized bra cup strapped around his face like a Darth Vader mask. I almost removed the mask, but the peekaboo game they had started was straight up adorable.

Do you ever feel like your walk with God would be so much smoother if there were fewer distractions?

I know I do. However, teaching Grant to stay by my side has taught me something: It requires great love and obedience to me on his part to move past the shiny packages and fun toys in the store to stay by my side. Although the training isn’t always as easy as I would like it to be, the reward of knowing he’s obeying me out of love only grows our relationship.

In life, there will always be a crazy amount of distractions. Let’s encourage one another to walk close to God and not allow the distractions in life to become idols that will pull us away from him. Instead, let’s grasp the father’s hand and allow Him to lead us where HE wants us to go.

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