I used to love to multitask. It might be more accurate to say I am a recovering multitasker. In my 20’s and 30’s I had this skill down to a science! I even found it fun and invigorating to do. Like a challenge. My husband and I were in ministry and raising a young family. Juggling activities and tasks required precision and focus. My role as a critical care nurse lent itself to the need to be even more proficient. Maybe you can relate to this?

In my 40’s I began to get a slight inkling of the toll this was taking on my relationships and even on my own mental and emotional health. I actually found it difficult to stop multitasking. I could listen to my daughter as I prepared supper. But did she really feel heard and cared for? 

I noticed a weariness after a flurry of multitasking, even an irritability that I couldn’t understand. I came to realize that I was feeling overwhelmed at the pace with which life was rolling. What was once a fun challenge had become an exhausting way of living and yet I didn’t quite understand how to turn it off. It’s almost as if I’d become over sensitized to all the environmental stimuli that were unfolding around me - and it all became ‘noise’.

Does this ring a bell for you? 

MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller explains that our brains “are not wired to multitask well… when people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost.” Forbes Magazine

That’s a sobering thought isn’t it? 

You don’t have to search hard to find articles and tips on Mindfulness. 

Mindfulness is defined as:

‘The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something or a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.’

Mindfulness is about us, our awareness of ourselves. A lack of mindfulness impacts our ability to be present to others, to the moment and to God. Over these next few days we are going to focus on the cost of multitasking. The fast from multitasking has the ability to bring us fully present into the moment. We’ll also explore what this fast uncovers for us.

It’s the opportunity to clear away the clutter, to quiet the noise so we can hear and to attend to God’s voice. This week our focus is awareness of God. 

Brother Lawrence in his well known book, The Practice of the Presence of God states,

“I make it my business to rest in His (Christ’s) holy presence which I keep myself in by a habitual, silent and secret conversation with God.” If you haven’t had the opportunity to read this book, it is excellent. 

Adele Calhoun in her book on spiritual disciplines writes, ‘Practicing the presence is a way of living into a deeper awareness of God’s activity in our lives’. We cannot do this when we multitask. It’s impossible. Are you ready for something different? Are you at a place of surrender? 

For Reflection:

How many times a day do you find yourself multitasking? This can be anything from being distracted in a meeting, preoccupied as you wait, or juggling 2 - 3 tasks at one time.

When someone asks you to listen to them, how might they experience your full attention or lack of it?

How easy is it for God to get your attention? What hinders you from hearing Him?

As you settle into your time today, pause and take a moment to relax, allow yourself to be fully attentive to the scripture.

Read the following passage two times, slowly.

“ As they continued their travels, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

- Matthew 10:38-42

In our story today we read of 2 sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha had invited Jesus and the disciples into her home (the fact that she was even a homeowner was a big deal in biblical times) She was hospitable, confident and organized. Now I can imagine the task of preparing a meal for a group of Jesus’ followers was quite an undertaking. It was the perfect storm for her to feel she alone was responsible for getting the meal on the table. She was frustrated and went to Jesus to enlist his help in getting Mary to help her with the preparations. I’m not sure that Jesus' response was the one she was looking for. He affirmed Mary’s choice to listen as Jesus taught. Martha had allowed the urgency of the task to overwhelm her. Did she have other choices? Could she have let the tasks with her servants, after all she owned her home which speaks to a certain degree of wealth. Truth be told, I have been and still can be like Martha. Scurrying around with a busyness that begins to grow out of control and overshadow the importance of the present moment. And yet God desires so much more for us.

What’s required at times like this is a pause, a stopping to become present to the moment. It sounds so simple yet can be so hard. Many times we are somewhere else - worrying about the future, reliving the past, distracted by a myriad of other thoughts. 

The presence of God is infinite, everywhere, always, and forever. You cannot not be in the presence of God. There’s no other place to be. It is we who are not present to His Presence. We’ll make any excuse to be somewhere else than right here. We rationalize why we have no choice in the matter. 

My word for 2025 is Pause. I began to sense God’s invitation towards the end of last year. I believe it’s been born out of necessity for this season. It’s not created an earth shattering change but I have certainly found a deepening awareness of and hunger for God’s presence with me throughout my day. It’s also become a time to unpack some of the reasons that I run through my day or list and so quickly forget where I am. Kinda like when you drive your car and arrive at your destination wondering how you got there. 

Pausing has required me to stop, between activities. To intentionally shift from one activity to another. It has helped me listen with my heart instead of relying entirely on my head. This contemplation provides the opportunity to ask God for an awareness of His presence with me in the moment. It has been described ‘as a prayerful letting go of my sense of control and choosing to cooperate with God and His work in the world.’ 

This disrupts my self - preoccupation. 

For Reflection:
What is it like for you when God shows up in an expected moment?

Are you more like Martha or Mary? If so, in what way?

Where are the places you could pause throughout the day? What would that look like?

Take a moment and recommit to the fast this week. Below are some possible suggestions to help you become more aware, a necessary first step in making the shift from multi-tasking to being present in the moment.

• Be aware of your attention and actively choose to focus on one task at a time.
• Take breaks: Regularly step away from your work to refresh your mind
• Sitting on the couch in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, staring out the living room windows at the trees, for at least 15 minutes. No TV, radio, phone, books, or people. Just me, coffee, couch, window, and God.
• Choosing visual and audio quiet. Intentional times when I don’t turn on the radio or podcast in the car, when I putter around the house without the television on, when I stand in line at the grocery store and I don’t look at my phone. I just drive, or pick up socks and shoes, or wait my turn.
• Listening to others without interrupting or interjecting my opinion.