"The voice of God is very gentle; we cannot hear it if we let other voices compete" (The Fruits of the Spirit, Underhill)
In a little book called "The Fruits of the Spirit", Underhill points our attention toward prayer and more specifically the need for getting away from distractions. She hones in on a verse mentioned by Jesus, "Thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet-and shut the door."
"Shut the door. It is an extraordinary difficult thing to do. Nearly every one pulls it to and leaves it slightly ajar so
that a whistling draught comes in from the outer world, with reminders of all the worries, interests, conflicts, joys
and sorrows of daily life."
It sure is difficult, but as I read through the Gospels I see that even Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, had to draw away several times in order to be with the Father. It seems that the two occasions that Jesus tended to draw away or for that matter shut the door was before moving in a different direction or making major decisions and after a full day of ministry with people. But, as I reflect on Advent, I am reminded that Jesus' coming was to slice through all the competing voices and to be the lone voice of truth and righteousness for all of humanity. He came into this world, Jesus showed us what intimacy was through shutting the door and it is Him that we owe a great clarity of vision about detaching from the voices of this world and attaching to the person of God.
The next time I am tempted to focus my attention on Jesus AND...I will be reminded that I am clutching other than Him alone. Still learning how to "shut the door".
Spiritual Exercises:
1) Read Psalm 5, specifically the first couple of verses and allow your attention to be solely on these verses, learn them and close your eyes and spend time with Jesus alone.
2) Find a quiet place to retreat to and ask the Lord what you are having trouble detaching from. Journal about these things you are clutching and ask the Lord to help you in your inability to meditate on Him alone.
3) If you are having trouble in a singular focus toward Christ and His coming, then simply start with 15-30 min. with eyes closed and listening to worship music.