"Believing that life interruptions — divine interruptions — are a privilege not only causes us to handle them differently but to await them eagerly."

Priscilla Shirer

"You know, my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work."

Henri Nouwen (commenting on what an older mentor said to him)

One of the great tragedies of modern life is the violent pace at which we are required to live. Almost every man I meet is scheduled to the hilt, with calendars in which every nook and cranny is filled with tasks. Our hours are like the stones of the wailing wall; even the tiniest crack is filled with prayers for more productivity.

As a result, we are constantly looking for ways to maximize our work and achieve balance, but this rarely works. We time block, deep work, sabbath, dumb phone, and prioritize ourselves to death, but in spite of all of the effort, it rarely seems to work. 

One of the great tragedies of this pressure is that it can create a sense of self-importance about our time. Our time is seen as a special possession, and only those we deem truly laudable can access this sacred commodity. It also creates a sense of power. We use our time as a way of controlling others. We block out those we deem unworthy and let through those who can advance our cause. 

All of this makes us weary and distorts our spiritual perspective. We use time as power, not a gift for others.

The psychologist Dacher Keltner studied the relationship between empathy and power and made a fascinating discovery. Empathy, equality, and generosity, the things that helped people accumulate power, began to fade out in the lives of those who became powerful. Our sense of self-importance can get inflated, and we unconsciously think of ourselves and our time as more valuable than others. We rate people on a value hierarchy and then grant them access accordingly.

How different from the ministry of Jesus. 

Jesus had more responsibility than you or I ever will. He was the literal savior of the world. Yet, Jesus was an interruptible man. The great tragedy of our time is not that we aren’t godly enough to be Jesus' disciples; we are just too busy.

Marcia Lebhar notes this about how Jesus used time:

"If you had slept in the same house or field with Jesus, awakened with Him, eaten with Him and helped Him, what would you have observed? One thing we always think of is that Jesus gave Himself almost entirely to what we would consider interruptions. Most of the teaching, healing and wonders we see in his life were responsive...seemingly unplanned. He trusted that what the Father allowed to cross his path was exactly that...from the Father. Jesus always seemed willing for things to get messy."

It has been pointed out that almost fifty percent of the miracles in the ministry of Jesus were interruptions, and many of the most compelling encounters with Christ were unplanned.

• The paralytic lowered through the roof was an interruption.

• Jairus’ daughter's healing was interrupted by an unclean woman’s issue of blood. (This is an interruption interrupting an interruption)

• The children brought to Jesus for blessing were an interruption.

• The Syrophoenician woman’s request for her daughter was an interruption.

• Zacchaeus in the tree was an interruption.

• The lepers being healed were an interruption.

• The sinful woman washing Jesus’ feet at Simon the Pharisee's house was an interruption.

If the disciples had been in charge of Jesus' ministry, many of the things we love about Him would never have happened.

Jesus would never have blessed the children.
Jesus would never have met the woman at the well.
Jesus would never have gone to the cross.

Thanks be to God that Jesus was an interruptible man. Because the truth is, the kingdom of heaven is interruptible by its very nature.

It’s grace interrupting shame.
Mercy interrupting judgment.
Love interrupting hate. 

I don’t want to be so scheduled, planned, and productive that I don’t have room for the divine interruptions that God wants to bring into my life. If we are not careful, there is a very real chance that we will. 

Missing out on kingdom moments doesn’t happen because of the big sins or scandals in our lives. It just gets choked out by the ordinary things. Those who missed the feast in Luke 14 were those dealing with normal things. New land, a new marriage, some oxen. 

I wonder where we are missing the kingdom all around us because there is no room in the soil of our lives.

C.S. Lewis reminds us, "The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day."

I have gotten so many things wrong in my parenting over the years. I’ve sometimes been harsh, driven, and distracted. However, in talking with my assistant, Danielle, she shared an interesting observation.

"The one thing I remember about how you raised your kids was that you always stopped and let your kids interrupt you. It didn’t matter what you were doing or what you were working on; if your kids came over, you stopped, gave them your attention, and made them feel seen."

This is not something I observed in myself, but it’s something I want to grow in.

I want to be an interruptible man.

Bonhoeffer, whose life was interrupted time and time again, wrote,

"We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God, who will thwart our plans and frustrate our ways time and again, even daily, by sending people across our path with their demands and requests. We can, then, pass them by, preoccupied with our important daily tasks, just as the priest - perhaps reading the Bible - passed by the man who had fallen among robbers. When we do that, we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised in our lives to show us that God’s way, and not our own, is what counts."

Why not reframe interruptions as divine interventions this week?

God intervening to bring you His love.

God intervening so you can give love.

God intervening so you can intervene in the life of others.

May God give you grace to be an interruptible man.

I’m asking for it, too.

Cheers.

Jon.