Existing in a distracted reality

As a clinical neuropsychologist, I see patients presenting with a variety of cognitive complaints.  With increasing frequency, adults arrive in my clinic asking to be evaluated for adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.  Adult ADHD is a slippery diagnosis, to be sure, yet the nature of these patients seems to have morphed in the past few years.  What once were patients with a clear developmental history of behavioral and learning problems and persistent difficulties with focus, executive functioning, and mood regulation now are more commonly mothers and fathers in their early 30s who maintain steady employment, but worry about their jobs, yet have no convincing developmental history.  They describe distractibility, forgetfulness, and mental cloudiness.  At home, they feel frazzled, flitting from one task to another, feeling unaccomplished in all of them.  Like many of us, their homes are filled with electronic distractions—Facebook, YouTube, e-mail, text messaging, Internet chat, and television to name a few.  

Loving the Difficult Ones

There are people in my life who are a chore for me to be around. I feel exhausted when I speak with them.  At times, I avoid interacting with them. I screen my calls.  I intentionally cut conversations short. The unspoken prayer my actions suggest would seem to be, "God, send me to a foreign land, but please don't make me spend any more time with that person."

God doesn't treat us this way; quite the opposite. Ezekiel 34:11 reads, "For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out." He pursues people who others might overlook, ignore or avoid.