One of the most underrated spiritual disciplines isn’t listed in most books on Christian growth. It doesn’t require a study guide. There isn’t a conference built around it.
Still, I am increasingly convinced that it is essential for both discipleship and leadership.
It is the discipline of paying attention. Like right now. You’re probably fighting the urge to scroll or look at something other than this post. I get it. I’m writing it and have checked my phone twice!
Over the past several weeks, I have spent time in airports, classrooms, churches, museums, city streets, and small villages across several countries. Every place has been different. Different languages, customs, food, and history.
What isn’t different though, is that people want to be seen.
We live in a culture of constant observation but very little attention.
We scroll past thousands of faces every week. We read headlines without reading stories. We hear conversations while thinking about what we need to do next. We often listen long enough to formulate a response rather than understand another person.
Our attention has become fragmented, and fragmented attention rarely produces meaningful relationships.
When I read the Gospels, I am struck by how often Jesus noticed what everyone else overlooked.
- He noticed Zacchaeus sitting in a tree while crowds pressed around Him.
- He noticed the widow quietly placing two small coins into the temple treasury.
- He noticed blind Bartimaeus calling from the roadside when others tried to silence him.
- He noticed children whom the disciples considered interruptions.
- He noticed the woman who touched the edge of His garment in the middle of a crowd.
Again and again, Jesus demonstrated that love begins with attention.
Before He healed people, He often saw them.
Leadership can become surprisingly transactional, and if we are not careful, we begin seeing people primarily in terms of tasks, roles, or outcomes.
Students become enrollment numbers. Employees become positions on an organizational chart. Church members become volunteers. Communities become ministry opportunities.
When that happens, we may accomplish a great deal while missing the very people God has entrusted to us.
Some of the most meaningful conversations I have had during my travels this year were completely unplanned.
- A driver sharing his family’s story
- A pastor describing both his hopes and his struggles
- A student asking a thoughtful question after a lecture
- A church member quietly explaining how God had been faithful through a difficult season
None of those conversations appeared on my itinerary. None of them advanced a strategic plan. Yet those are often the moments I remember long after I have forgotten the meetings that filled my calendar.
I’m convinced it is because people are never interruptions to God’s work. They are His work.
Attention also changes the way we read Scripture.
When we slow down enough to notice repeated themes, unexpected details, or difficult questions, the biblical text often speaks more deeply than when we rush to finish a reading plan.
The same is true in leadership.
Sometimes the issue no one is discussing is the issue everyone is feeling. Sometimes the quietest person in the room has the greatest insight. Sometimes what goes unsaid deserves more attention than what fills the agenda. Learning to notice is not merely a personality trait. It is a discipline.
It requires us to put down our phones. To ask another question instead of ending the conversation. To resist assuming we already know someone’s story. To observe before evaluating. To listen before speaking.
Easier said than done for sure.
None of that comes naturally in a hurried world.
It certainly does not come naturally to me.
I enjoy planning, solving problems, and moving projects forward. Those instincts are valuable, but they can also become distractions if they keep me from slowing down long enough to notice the people around me.
Long before we ever noticed God, He first noticed us.
One of the simplest ways we reflect Christ is by learning to truly see the people He places in front of us.
Dr. Carlo A. Serrano, President