We are more effective when we are selective

From Narrabri Christian Churches

By Pastor Renee Ritchie, Way Church

Recent skirmishes with scammers have made me extra careful of what links I click on and what e-mails or messages I open. I am grateful that malware or bogus mail is often automatically sent to the junk box, even if it means I have to go in and retrieve legitimate correspondence from time to time.

Before taking annual leave over summer, with the view to make my return to work simpler, I went through the painstaking task of unsubscribing from a host of e-mails which I had not invited to be delivered to my in-box or no longer required. This involved searching through the fine print to find the hyper- link so I could click on the right word or symbol to successfully ‘unsubscribe’.

For any readers who might still be foggy about what it means to ‘unsubscribe”, think of a magazine subscription that you no longer are interested in or can afford, and so you make arrangements to cancel your order to prevent it being delivered each month.

It occurs to me, that all of would benefit from unsubscribing from some of the stuff that is filling up our lives and crowding our minds. Not all incoming information or influences are rubbish or harmful, but it can just be tiring to filter through the volume of what is in the in-box of our lives!

Of course, organisational psychology has long suggested that a crowded schedule and over-crowded mind can be counter-productive. It is better to pick a focus, do a few things well, rather than many things badly or only mediocre.

Christ goes deeper, however, when He taught us about the seed sown among thorns in the Parable of the Sower. The seed of the Good News is all too quickly crowded out by three thorns: worries of the world, the lure of wealth, and the endless desire for other things.

I wonder how different our lives would be if we were able to click ‘unsubscribe’ from these pesky robbers of peace, purpose and truth?

Better still, send them to the ‘junk’ box!

We are more effective when we are selective.