The Problem With Distractions

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We are raising an almost 2-year-old.

Yep, we’re approaching the “terrible twos,” as some professionals call it.

According to a BBC article, this time in a child’s life can occur between ages 18 and 24 months. To help explain what this milestone is in the life of a toddler, they included, “The tantrums that children have when they’re toddlers are tied into their language development. The problem is that they’re unable to put into words what they’re feeling and what they need from the adults in their lives in order to help them cope with those emotions.”

Simply put, this season of my little one’s life is filled with big emotions and thoughts, and he’s learning how to process them.

Some days, his actions remind me of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, where he explains the reasoning behind the feelings of the fictional creatures called fairies (including the beloved character Tinker Bell). He wrote, “Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.”

I can testify that it seems to be true for little children too.

There are so many things happening in their growing mind.

Most days, my son reaches out his little arms toward me, grins, says “mama,” and leans in for a big hug. It is the highlight of my day. Yet, when he’s in a foul mood, too tired to function, or desperate for another snack, I have learned to act quickly before a fit ensues.

That act (at least for now) is coming up with a distraction as fast as I can.

At any given moment in any room of our house, we have tractors, cars, and everything vehicle-like of the sort sprinkled around the room. When I notice him starting to go downhill, I pull out one of those cars with express purpose to distract him.

Sometimes it doesn’t work, but most of the time it does.

Before I can blink, he’s taken his toys and is saying “vroom” as he pushes them around the floor. It’s cute and sweet, and it’s reason enough for this pregnant mama to take a breath and grab a quick drink of water before tackling the next task needed to help our day go smoothly.

The thing about that distraction is that it’s only a matter of time until it wears off. When it does, often we need something bigger or flashier to catch his attention.

The same can be true of our spiritual walks.

This week, during my quiet time, as I was praying for my son’s growth, I began to ponder those distractions. As I did, the Lord reminded me of C.S. Lewis’s famous work, The Screwtape Letters. If you’ve never read it, this satirical work is brilliantly haunting and has stuck with me since I read it as a teenager.

In this 1942 published work, Lewis tells the tale of two demons, Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. The entire 31-chapter book revolves around Screwtape coaching Wormwood on how to secure the temptation and fall of “the Patient” (aka a British man).

But recently, I happened to recall a specific passage from the book.

It says, “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”

These fictional demons knew; they just had to keep their human busy, moving, and chaotic, so that he wouldn’t need to focus on the One in charge – Jesus.

All they had to do was distract him.

If Wormwood and Screwtape could keep the Patient more preoccupied with his “to-do” list, why would he need to look any further into his faith?

This isn’t just the work of fictional demons; in our busy culture, it also seems to be the work of the enemy of our souls.

In my personal life, as I remembered handing my son a car for the third time of the day, I was also reminded that I am just as easily distracted from the big picture – keeping my focus on the One who truly matters.

So often, the scroll of a social media page or a snack I do not need can take precedence over taking the time to pull out my Bible and glean from its truths. Before long, the nothingness I find in these moments makes me forget that I was, in fact, in need of and wanted to spend that time with Him.

In this book, Lewis also wrote, “Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them.”

It still rings true today.

If we let the little crumbs of distractions, such as nothingness or an addiction to something as small as scrolling, direct our path, we can miss out on exactly what the Lord is asking us to do with our lives and other opportunities to show the love of Christ to those in need.

May we keep our eyes open and ask the Lord to help us identify the distractions in our lives, so that we can give them up to Him.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

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