My son spent Saturday morning making a plastic bag dispenser instead of packing.
I was running around last Saturday trying frantically to get packed and get ready to haul eight teenagers in two cars first to my parents’ house, and then to a concert. My son, one of the teens, wasn’t attending the concert. He was going fishing with his Granddaddy. But, he still had to get his things packed and loaded into the car. He wasn’t the least bit interested in the task I had given him.
I went into my laundry room and he had every plastic grocery bag I had, pulled out onto the floor and was folding them. I took a deep breath and asked him what he was doing. He told me he needed an empty Clorox Wipes canister. He wouldn’t tell me why. When I asked him if he had his things packed, he told me that it wouldn’t take long to finish what he was working on.
Now, knowing my son like I do, I could have argued with him and ordered him to go and pack. However, he’s a very creative, task oriented sort, and I knew we would all be happier if I just let him finish. I found a canister that was close enough to empty. He then wanted to know if he could use my laptop because he needed to print something. I relented and went upstairs to finish my own packing and getting ready to go.
Twenty minutes or so later, he proudly produced his contraption. He had placed all of the bags neatly in it, eliminating all of the chaos in the laundry room. He had a label on it and even a name to contact when they ran out. (his of course) It even had a handle so that it would hang from the cabinet door. He tried to explain to me how to refill it, but then he told me I could just let him know when I needed a refill.
I smiled at him. It really was a cool little gizmo. I thanked him and asked him to please go and pack his things. He happily complied. On his way out the door, I told him that although his invention was great, it could have waited until he got packed. It didn’t have to be done right this minute. He simply replied, “But, then that would have been all I could think about. I needed to get it done, so I could do something else.”
Ahhh, words of wisdom from a thirteen-year-old. More and more studies have shown that the human brain is terrible at multitasking. When we do more than one thing at once, nothing gets done well. I suspect this goes for our spiritual lives too. we can’t read the Bible and listen to music. We can’t really, intentionally pray while checking Facebook or e-mail or listening to anything. We can’t really worship while playing on our phones.
To do anything well, we have to focus on that one thing. We don’t like to focus on one thing. It makes us feel less productive. The many distractions we put into our lives, think: social media and cell phones have caused us to be a society with collective ADD. The Bible tells us to, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
Be still. When was the last time you were really still? Can you remember? I get it. It’s very difficult to be still. There’s just so much to do. I find myself reading the Bible while I’m eating lunch or praying while I’m driving. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with doing that; it’s just that if I want to get the best connection possible with God, (and I do), I need to focus only on reading the Bible at the moment or sit still some place quiet and pray. I think it’s about focus, God focus.
As usual, my son taught me something when I was least expecting it, but I’m used to God using my kids to communicate with me, when I have the sense to watch for it. I’m really going to try to stop multitasking so much and be still more.
What do you think?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂