Monday was one of those days. I loaded up the kids for school and my car wouldn’t start. I popped the hood and struggled for ten minutes to open the latch. Once I finally got it open, I had to ask Google where the battery was located. Thankfully, Papa came to the rescue and was able to jump us off.

I made it to school by 8:30 and to work by 9. As I was leaving for lunch, I noticed my tire looked a little low. When I parked at my parent’s house, that’s when I spotted the nail. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to pick up kids and groceries while my car was in the shop. Thankfully my parents were able to help shuttle me back and forth and I also borrowed their car for a couple of hours in between.

When we got home, I flushed the toilet and noticed it was stopped up. The water raised all the way to the top and I thought it would slowly seep down like always. I went back into the front of the house and tended to every day chores. Two hours later, I walked to the back of the house and stepped in a puddle of water in front of the washing machine. Great, I thought, the pump is bad on the washer again. As I made my way through the hall, I quickly realized it wasn’t the pump.

The entire master bedroom, bathroom and laundry area was covered with an inch deep layer of water. I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants, and sloshed my way back to the bathroom. That’s when I heard it. The culprit behind the mess; a running toilet. I’ve always heard that a running toilet uses a lot of water and electricity. It’s the absolute truth.

David ran outside to find the shop vac. I put towels down everywhere and began picking up all of the things off of the floor and throwing them on the porch. We discovered that the water was seeping out of a hole cut too big for the dryer duct, so I got a broom and began sweeping the water towards the hole. Yes, you heard that correctly. There was enough water that I was able to literally sweep it through the house. It took about an hour, but we finally got most of the water dried up.

When I sat down in my chair, exhausted from the chaos, a conversation with my son came back into my mind. Somewhere in the confusion of the day, he had asked me, “Mama, what’s for supper?”

His simple question seemed so out of place. I froze in that moment of time, “Supper?” I asked. “Well, that’s a really good question. I do have to feed you, don’t I?” I was so consumed with the distractions of the day that I forgot about a prior commitment that was essential to my family’s well-being.

Distractions take us away from the most important things in life. When that conversation was brought back to my mind, my heart hurt. What else had I missed as a result of the distractions of the day?

As we go about our week, we may have days of total distraction. In reality, we may have weeks or months of distraction. Let’s pay attention in the middle of those times of chaos and realize that there are still people and situations, outside of the distraction, that need our time and attention. Our current situation is not our long term reality. Remember that.