A few years ago ADHD was all the rage...the diagnosis du jour. Far too often the disorder was inappropriately assessed and kids were medicated when pharmacological intervention wasn't necessary. (By the way, there's no such thing as "ADD," which you hear folks say all the time.

 

There are three types of ADHD: inattentive type, impulsive type and combined type.)

Today, ADHD has faded into the cultural background somewhat, though I still get occasional frantic calls about someone's child-or their husband. Seems like we've moved on to other disorders now; maybe that will be worth writing about in a future blog.

But I've been thinking lately about spiritual issues of attention and the thought strikes me that perhaps there are three types of spiritual attention deficit as well. The first seems obvious and is probably the kind we most often experience: we become inattentive to the things of God. We are distracted. Captured even by the things around us. We lose track of the main thing, the thing we're supposed to be focusing on.

And then there's the impulsive type. With less frequency, but sometimes with greater effect I find myself impulsively deciding something: rejecting one viewpoint or determining to do some deed for God. All too often these impulses grow out of my own desires. Though they can be mounted in a Christian frame, the truth is they really serve to meet my needs or desires.

Even with that, I fear that the worst deficits I sometimes face come from the combination of inattention and impulsivity. Those are the times we can find ourselves lurching from one strategy to another, desperately seeking ways to fill the hole inside.

I think today I will work to stay solidly focused on the now. Brennan Manning cites theologian Oscar Cullman who writes of the "isness of the shall be." For today, Lord, let me focus my attention on your tenderness. Let me just be. With you.