The Interruptions are your work

I hate being interrupted when I am doing something. I like to be able to focus single- mindedly on the task in hand. But I remember having one of those ‘Ah ha’ moments when I read Henri Nouwen’s book, ‘Turn my mourning into dancing’. He relates:

While visiting the University of Notre Dame, where I had been a teacher for a few years, I met an older experienced professor who had spent most of his life there. And while we strolled over the beautiful campus, he said with a certain melancholy in his voice, “You know . . . my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.

When you stop and think about it, many of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. In Mark 5: 21-34 Jesus was interrupted twice, once by Jairus who needed Jesus to stop what he was doing and come and heal his teenage daughter. And then on his way to see her, a woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years touched Jesus robe and interrupted him again…

What if we saw interruptions as the real purpose of our lives? What if we saw them as a gift – an opportunity to be open to what God would have us do in that moment?

This week:

• Let’s be more ready to be interrupted and approach them in a more positive and creative way.