Are You Scattered?

Nehemiah 1:8 – Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations.”
It’s true, Nehemiah was talking about the Jews being physically scattered. But do you ever feel scattered emotionally? You know, that feeling you’re forgetting something, that you’ve left something undone, that you just can’t pull your world together.
When we read this verse in Bible study last week it occurred to me that being unfaithful to God can result in my feeling scattered as I move through my days. When I don’t take time to do what matters–worship God and love people–my foundation gets shaky and I’m all too easily scattered.
Skipping or rushing through Bible reading and prayer, forgetting to give thanks, believing that tasks are up to me and problems are mine to solve–it’s all scattering. If I stop looking to Jesus for my firm foundation, my still center in the whirl of life, then I tend to become fragmented.
Why is this so hard to remember?
Lent is just around the corner. It’s time to give something up as a way of turning my heart and mind toward God. I’m looking forward to it this year. It’s time to pull together and be faithful. To stop being scattered.