Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. —Proverbs 4:25 (niv)
Oh, let me just text him back real quick,” my friend said to me. Then, “I’ve got to take this call. I’ve been trying to reach her for days. Hang on a sec, okay?” I would have been upset by this display of divided attention, except that not too long ago the dividing offender was me.
Months ago, I was listening to a podcast of a sermon—while also holding a baby, putting on makeup, eating breakfast, folding laundry, dusting bookshelves, and returning sixteen e-mails—when I heard the pastor say: “If you are the type of person who reads five books at a time instead of finishing one and then actually reflecting on it before moving on to the next, you might need to rethink your ways.” Gulp. His point was that Jesus never modeled this sort of multitasking efficiency. Therefore, neither should we.
The insight changed me. With uncharacteristic myopia, I began forcing myself to stop typing when my husband walked into the room to talk. I stashed my cell phone when my daughter dragged her little bowling pins out to play. When it was time for work, I parked myself at my desk instead of straightening lampshades and sweeping the floor.
And, you know, that pastor was right. Something that feels a lot like Jesus goes on in me when I choose to be in one place at a time.
