INTENTIONAL INTERRUPTIONS:
Learning to be Interrupted the way
God Intended
By Jonathan Thomas
Christian Focus. 167 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 527 110 205
There are two kinds of interruptions. On the one hand, I inhabit a world where I am constantly bombarded by pings and alerts. In that world, I find myself easily distracted by the relatively trivial and unimportant. On the other hand, I inhabit another far more real world. A world in which I often fail to spot the ways in which my Heavenly Father is seeking to get my attention.
In this engagingly written book, Jonathan Thomas – author, broadcaster and pastor of Cornerstone Church, Abergavenny – takes us on a personal journey through the interruptions that punctuate his experience. His aim is ‘to invite [us] into the greatest life imaginable…’
In the first half of the book, he explores the addictive power of those interruptions that rob our attention and cause us to drown in distraction, before calling us to take our place at the feet of the Lord Jesus.
It’s the second half that brings us to the heart of the book – how do we switch the default settings of our hearts from distraction to the divine? Thomas helpfully reminds us that it is habits that create a rhythm, then he goes on to encourage us to cultivate habits in five areas of life:
• the beauty of creation – look about and see;
• the need for compassion – look around and feel;
• the stimulus of communicating the gospel – look around and speak;
• the promptings of conscience – look inside and confess; and
• the joy of communion with the Lord Jesus – look up and rejoice.
Along the way, we are reminded of three ‘S’s that emerge from the fact that we are created beings – Sleep, Sabbath and Selah. (I always thought ‘Selah’ in the Psalms denoted a broken guitar string, but apparently this is not so!)
Unless we live in a monastery, we would all benefit from reading this book. There are two ways to do so. The first is quickly, enjoy the anecdotes and move on unchanged. The better way is slowly – ideally with a prayer partner – being prepared for God to interrupt you.
