Hello and happy Ponds Sunday to you, Bridge Town Church.

At all of you watching online, I'm Bethany Allen and I'm excited to welcome you to the

Teaching for Bridge Town Church online.

Please turn on your Bibles to Mark Chapter 5.

Have you ever noticed that kids have this unique way of paying attention to the world?

Of seeing it particularly in a way that we as grownups do not?

I can imagine that some of you, even this week, have experienced this at a profound level.

Study I recently read from Ohio State University said that adults have the ability to focus

their attention in a way that children do not. No surprise there.

However, the study said children uniquely have the ability to actually distribute their attention

in a way that adults do not, allowing them to notice more of what's happening in the world

around them. The article concluded with this statement.

Adults often miss what they are not focused on.

Now undoubtedly for each of us in light of this pandemic, our focus has shifted away from

the routines of life to new realities such as the future and the market and statistics and

numbers. What we're paying attention to and focused on is vastly different than it was even just a

month ago. There is a very real external crisis at hand and it has for better or worse,

not only captured our attention but the attention of the entire world, which means that in these days,

our attention is and will be one of the greatest commodities that we have.

After all, what you give your attention to is the person you become. The mind is the portal to the

soul. What you focus on and think about and give mental energy to will determine not only how you

feel in a tumultuous time but who you become as a result of a tumultuous time.

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