SCANNING THE SPACE AT COFFEE CAT I NOTICE PEOPLE with laptops open, ear buds from their iPods hanging in their ears, cell phones at the ready, latte in hand and all the while carrying on a conversation with the person next to them. We truly are a multi-tasking culture. It is amazing what we can accomplish at the same time. Or can we?
In the March 27, 2006, issue of Time magazine, the cover story deals with the plug-in generation of the youth of our culture. One of the important realizations derived from the article is that multi-tasking may not be all that it is cracked up to be. The truth of the matter is that our brains can really only handle one project at a time. We may be plugged into all kinds of sources, but what we are really doing is constantly switching between one activity and the other, albeit this switching happens incredibly fast.
The results of this constant switching is that it often takes more time to accomplish any task than if we were to focus singly upon that task. The other result is that we use up more “battery power.” Much like the drain we put upon our laptop battery when we ask our computer to do numerous things at once.
This multi-tasking can affect the spiritual aspects of our lives as well. We feel that we can “slip God in” while we are doing a multitude of other things. However, what we really need to do is follow the example of our Lord. We read that He would wake up early, and draw away often, in order to spend concentrated time with God. The ironic thing is we believe we somehow need to do that less than Jesus Himself. In this regard, “if it was good enough for Jesus” then it “better” for us.
So, in this Lenten season, let us remember that little saying, “Let’s come apart with Him alone, so we don’t fall apart all alone.”