Jehoshaphat was king and Judah was facing a huge danger. The Moabites and Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites set themselves against Judah and were poised for battle. The calamity was imminent. Jehoshaphat prays for his people and concludes like this:

2 Chronicles 20:12:

“For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

This is just the attitude that we ought to acquire—not only in the face of impending danger of whatever kind we may be experienced, but in virtually every circumstance of uncertainty.

“Lord, I don’t know what to do. But I know that you do, and so I will keep my eyes on you, the source, and wait for you to do what you will do.”

After a conversational exchange yesterday, I noticed that my ten year old niece shares, with many, an expectation that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so clearly. It’s the idea that if there isn’t work to be done (i.e., homework, chores), then she should be entertained. But, not simply in a state of being entertained, but rather that she should be receiving entertainment.

Some time ago, a friend posted a blog about something very similar. While I would link to his post, I haven’t been able to find it. He explained how the word ‘entertainment’ comes from the idea of ‘diversion’. Entertainment was not the focus, but the occasional diversion from the main thing, whatever that may be. Today, entertainment is the main thing, and everything else is what we do to get there.

I think that it goes further than that. To be entertained doesn’t automatically imply that you are being entertained, but that you are entertained. That can mean a lot of different things. Going for a walk, writing a poem, drawing a picture, reading a book, building an obstacle course, planting a garden—to some extent, even playing a video game. These are all things in which you are making entertainment for yourself. Unlike television or movies, where you are solely receiving entertainment.

I noticed the difference when my niece couldn’t find any friends who could come and play, and so for her what logically followed was that she should be able to watch TV instead.

It was the idea that since she didn’t have any “work” to do, she should be entertained. Friends would be ideal, but without them, the default was television. Both of those forms of entertainment were heavy on the receiving side. Friends would require limited effort to ‘create’ entertainment her, and television requires none.

I think this is a prevalent concept. I think most of us don’t consider our hobbies and personal activities to be entertainment. Sometimes we even approach them with the same attitude we would work. Instead, entertainment has been narrowed to distractions we can enjoy which require little or no effort.

For us to do this, I think, is really unhealthy. Creating entertainment for ourselves gives us the opportunity to grow and shape our own minds. Purely receiving entertainment places that opportunity in someone else’s hands. Gradually, we take what is given to us and make that a part of ourselves.

Obviously, the solution is to put effort into our entertainment. To create entertainment for ourselves. With entertainment being such an emphasis in our lives, I think this is more important than ever. But whether or not we can, or will, achieve that is a whole other story. And even for myself, I’m not especially optimistic.

I took a self evaluation test today to help develop some observations about my professional habits as a photographer. Here is a short excerpt from the feedback it provided:

“Stay conscious about your attitude. Ask yourself often (even now) what is ruling your heart. Is your good or bad day being determined by things outside of you or by your own decisions? This is a question you need to place at the forefront of your mind until it becomes your default habit.”

Of course, this is talking about my career. But it’s eerily applicable to my day in day out walk with the Lord.

And it does need to be placed ‘at the forefront’ of my mind everyday.

I often read about the importance of making specific time for prayer. Many in my generation see prayer as only legitimate when it comes about spontaneously. Frankly I think that kind of thinking is a bit silly, but I won’t go into why right now.

Now, I personally find it difficult to make out specific time for prayer. Not because I don’t want to pray, but because I’m usually well distracted. Even if I set aside a whole hour just for the purpose of prayer, I’ll often settle into the time and only skim across the top of prayer because my mind is running a million miles a minute about all the different stuff I need to do.

Ever heard a prayer that sounds something like, "Lord, help me to focus, just set my mind on you"? Seriously, some times that’s every third prayer for me.

So, in those times I’ve adopted the practice of praying and walking. Not to be confused with "Prayer Walking" which apparently is something different altogether. No, I’m talking about the process of walking and praying. Just praying while putting one foot in front of the other along some path.

I find that taking time to pray and using that time to walk and pray, my prayers end up mirroring my walking. I don’t mean they’re about what I see. I mean they move foreword. I don’t end up hung up and distracted thinking about all kinds of other stuff after 15 minutes or so, I find that I’ve reached depths in prayer that I often don’t reach in an hour of stationary prayer.

So, if you find that your easily distractible in prayer, try taking your prayers out on a walk.