If contemplative, silent prayer ushers us into union with God, distractions inevitably pull us away from this state of being. But they don’t have to have the final say. As I heard it said by Thomas Keating, if your mind gets distracted ten thousand times in twenty minutes of prayer, it’s “ten thousand opportunities to return to God.” Ever since I heard those words, I’ve seen distraction as an inescapable reality that positions me to come back to God.
