On Saturday, the International Christian Brotherhood held its end of the year event, “The Blueprint of Manhood.”

It included a talk by Dr. Joel Nunez, a clinical psychologist, author, and educator, who spoke on the subject “The Blueprint for Soul Care.”

Dr. Nunez talked about attention, “our capacity to orient towards something.”

Quoting psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, Dr. Nunez characterized attention as a moral act. We attend, he said, to that which we value.

And as someone whose attention span could generously be described as “fluid”, the idea both affirmed and challenged me.

I’ve struggled with attention my entire life. As a child, I was often lost in the world of my imagination. I was diagnosed with A.D.D. at 20, and congenital hydrocephalus at 22. I took a bunch of drugs, had a bunch of brain surgeries, and to this day, caffeine is my friend. I make my strengths work for me. And while I have some concrete explanations for my trials and tribulations, they are still worth interrogating.

People with attention issues often vacillate between challenged focus and hyperfocus. The ideas that capture my mind or heart, I devour. The things that don’t may cause cerebral reflux.

I often struggle to ignore ambient noise. If I’m talking to you, and two people are talking behind us, I will catch everything they say along with everything you say, which can turn any conversation into a lousy remix, or occasionally, a great one.

Call it involuntary empathy.

All of these are technical challenges. A deeper question, however, emerges here. What do attention struggles say about our values?

We live in a world of distractions vying for our time. The news never sleeps. The ads never stop. On some level, in the 21^st Century, we all have A.D.D.

There are inevitably things we give our time, and things we choose to ignore.

Like a person walking down the street approached for change, there are times we have nothing to give. And there are times we don’t want to give.

The question I would ask today, is what things are you giving your time and talent?

Where are you spending your attention?

By paying something attention, we give it value.

Are the things on which you focus the things you want to value? Are they taking you where you want to go?

Sometimes we claim a priority we reveal as false by our choices.

This is where unexamined beliefs, motivations, and emotions can cause us a world of trouble.

Dr. Nunez brought extensive experience from working with men in prison.

And he told us “Penitentiaries are full of men who have never learned how to control impulses, how to take a hold of this thing inside us, so we control it instead of it controlling us.”

Our choice of focus becomes much more serious when it leads to transgression.

And as my pastor often says, every decision we make is a value judgment.

So what’s more important? Respect or freedom?

Do I need to be feared, or do I want to be safe?

Do I want to be rich, or do I want to be in control?

TLC sang years ago about the danger of chasing waterfalls: unchecked hunger can lead us to ruin.

Our gifts can take us to a place our character can’t sustain us.

Our eyes may be bigger than our stomachs.

Our appetites may be greater than our capacity.

And we can end up opening doors better left closed.

Good focus leads to good choices.

Good choices lead to good outcomes.

Good outcomes lead to a good life.

It pays to pay attention.

Just make sure you don’t pay too much.