A few years ago researchers at Stanford investigated how college students multitasked. They assumed they did it much more effectively than older adults. The researchers expected to find highly tuned cognitive abilities that allowed effective multitasking. What they actually found was that the more people multitasked, the worse at it they were.
They were worse at identifying relevant information, more distractable, and more disorganized. They even became worse at what multitasking is supposed to help with: switching tasks seamlessly. Multitasking, they concluded, impairs one’s ability to think reflectively. Such reflection is about thinking long enough on a topic to weigh a number of ideas. That can’t be done in 30-second bytes while also updating a Facebook page, changing the playlist on an iPod, or watching the latest cute cat video on YouTube.
As we thaw from a brutal winter, I am designing my garden. It requires some thought on what native plants I want to blossom for floral designs in the future. As different varieties of plants blossom at different seasons of the year, we need to reflect on how we want to blossom this Lent.
I think we suffer, if not from multitasking itself, certainly from the spirit of multitasking. Like Martha in Luke 10:41-42a (“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part.”), we become so distracted by the busyness of our lives that we do not make the time to think reflectively and prayerfully on our life and actions. It is not that we do not have the time. Of course we do. It is that we often lack the courage to live into such a prayerful and reflective relationship with God.
A traditional Lenten practice that we often neglect due to our multitasked, blackberried, and instant-messaged culture is reflection. As a gardener and floral designer who wants to use these blossoms to make beautiful bouquets, I need to reflect quietly on what I want to plant and grow. This morning take time to reflect on this Spring image of ice thawing in a creek and spent a quiet moment to reflecting on how God wants you to grow in the spirit of love this season.
We need to step back, gain perspective, listen to others, and spend time in solitude so we can think reflectively and prayerfully. Such reflective time is a necessary precursor to making our lives blossom. We must be able to think and see clearly before we can lead and act faithfully. In Mark 8:23-25, we read, “Jesus laid hands on the blind man and asked: ‘Can you see anything?’ And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees walking.’ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
When we do not make the time for solitude so we can think reflectively and prayerfully, we often end up seeing “trees walking” and not the people, things, and circumstances of our lives that truly matter. Like with the blind man in the gospel, we need more time for Jesus to work on us, for the needed time to listen to the Holy Spirit in our daily prayers and in the prayers of our community.
Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: “For now we see only as a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that during this Season of Lent we make time to reflect and come to know your will so that all our daily tasks may truly reflect your wisdom and love.
