The (spiritual?) discipline of focus

The idea came while listening to a certain Los Angeles based podcast. I was cleaning my room, packing some things away, writing a letter, checking myself out in a mirror, juggling, and listening to the podcast all around the same time.

"The more we multitask, the less we will be able to do one thing really well," or something like it, I heard.

"It's so true!" I thought, as I remembered a time when I was talking Skype and typing to others all at once.

I've also noticed times when I'm reading, will think of perhaps a chore I need to do, go do that chore, then return to--oh hey! I should do this... An hour or so later, I finally pick up the book again. I know I've never been officially labeled as having A.D.D., but oh no way! There's another stray dog outside my window...

Why do we think we can do a lot of things at once? The reality is when we try, we force our brain to switch directions, and it can not complete one task or the other to its greatest potential. I even caught myself again, this past Sunday. In a time meant to be devoted to prayer, I couldn't remember one sentence to the next, thinking of all sorts of people, or all sorts of other things I wanted to accomplish within the day. It was frustrating to catch myself distracted during a time so precious!

For the past several months, since hearing this simple suggestion from the podcast, I've been thinking about how necessary it is to give full concentration to one thing at a time. I've had practice in devoting time to reading, completing house chores in one turn, Skype for conversation alone, and other menial tasks.

What does the Bible say about our concentration?

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul. The Israelites were commanded not to stray from worshiping God by going to the right or to the left. We are asked to not only let every part of ourselves focus on God, but to not get distracted by the little gods that try to prevail either. A call toward focus, and a call away from distraction.

In utter honesty, focusing on one thing is a fight, and I even feel my fingers tempted to check my email, and/or to pull up a recent picture of my nephew. However, having started with these little tasks listed above, I press on to other things in life. Mainly, my call.

If I want to serve Córdoba well, I will need to focus my energies even better on the ministries laid before me. First, is the call to Christ. To love him with every part of my being and to be in constant conversation with him. This has currently developed into a daily devotional routine I treasure greatly. Second, the combined effort toward learning Spanish to the best of my ability, and to place the needs of the Argentinians above my own.

Let's face it, people know when you care about them. When you're actually paying attention to the things they have to say (even when there are times when you can't completely understand due to language barriers), when you're actually looking into their eyes and aren't concerned about what's happening next, they'll be more open to you. I was privileged to experience this again just yesterday.

And another fun fact: when you focus, you finish faster. This blog post for instance, less than 20 minutes to type! Now off to try to read more of The Three Musketeers in record time as well! Chau.