Savour the moment and save your soul

Even if we are constrained by health problems or other restrictions, it’s all too easy to fail to be fully present in the moment. I thought multi-tasking was beyond me as an M.E and chronic illness sufferer, but I was wrong.

Having committed to a 30 day challenge to be “intentional about being fully present, tackling one task alone, wherever you are”, I realise my failure to do just that. Margaret Feinberg asks, “Could it be possible that focusing on one task at a time makes life better and more enjoyable?” 

The main motivation is to “make more space for meaningful relationships, including our relationship with God”. Though I live a pretty inactive life by most standards, it turns out I still multi-task.

Here’s how I multi-task and fail to savour the moments

• Eating breakfast while scanning my phone/texting/tweeting/reading.
• Drinking coffee as I try to read the papers/check my phone/ try to maintain a pretence of conversing/assisting with the daily crossword puzzle.
• Reading erm…up the table or watching TV while eating lunch.
• Using the laptop with several tabs open at once so I can flit with ease between e-mails, writing, blogging, reading blogs, and internet browsing.
• Resting in bed while reading/checking my phone/finding it hard to relax..surprise, surprise.
• Eating dinner and making conversation with my husband, with the PC on in the background and TV audible from the living room.
• Watching TV as I talk through the programmes/maybe glance at a book/have a drink/snack/chat to my man/browse social media etc.
• Go to bed and read/pray/write a bit/try to sleep/jot down precious thoughts, poetry and insights/count sheep.

I’m not proud of my inattention. It can’t help me function well. My ‘wakeful’ periods tend to become filled with a quiet desperation to make the most of them. Though this way of carrying on isn’t wise, and it doesn’t equip me to savour my life.

Having a butterfly mind is a distinct disadvantage for an already fatigued, foggy, forgetful brain. Therefore you can see why I really need to do this challenge! Tuning out God’s voice is all too easy, but if we persist He may be forced to regain our attention.

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world” ~ C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain

Learning how to slow and savour God’s word

In an attempt to really concentrate on one task, I asked God to speak to me through His word as I was reading Psalm 147. Quietening myself before Him seems to work well as I start the day but there is a tendency to forget to reconnect with Him as it progresses.

As I read and re-read the passage, verse 18 seemed to leap out at me:

“He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow” – Psalm 147: 18

He sends his word..God takes the initiative. He begins the process whereby we hear from Him.

and melts them.. Our hard hearts are melted. The icy veil we pull over our hurt feelings becomes a soft puddle. Frozen emotions are thawed as we respond to His love.

he stirs up his breezes.. Again, the activity is first and foremost from God. The wind of the Holy Spirit is in the air. The scent of new life invigorates and cleanses out the old. Spring arrives and change occurs with an awareness of the sigh of His Presence.

and the waters flow.. Our tears may fall. There is an unimpeded flow as stagnant waters now flow freely. Dank pools of resentment and unforgiveness are cleared. A refreshing rain, cleansing and watering anointing for dry souls that thirst for a touch of grace to baptise us.

Those few minutes of undivided attentiveness yielded great abundance. If I’d simply read once, scanned briefly then moved on, I would have missed so much more that God was willing to teach me. I wonder how many precious moments could be lost from not being fully present, not taking time to savour them slowly?

The importance of pausing and going deep

How many more conversations would be deep, rich and meaningful, rather than lead to confusion and misunderstanding, simply because we fail to listen properly? Or how much of life’s enjoyment escapes eyes that skim the surface?

Sadly, far too much. So, I am going to have a go, to try to do one thing well instead of several things badly. I’ll aim to give people due consideration, give life due attention, and give God the time and focus He deserves.

As His One Word for me this year is, “Come” then I am signally failing to heed it if I prioritise other people and things or only pay Him scant attention. I may not succeed every day or be able to record every attempt.

But I want to zoom in, get up close, really notice what’s around me, be awed, amazed and..yes.. Wonderstruck anew at God’s goodness and grace.

What would it be like to glide with swan-like serenity through the choppy waters of adversity, with eyes calmly fixed on the route ahead? Far better, I expect, than duck-dabbling with furious, flustered paddling going on beneath the waves.

Perhaps this 30 day challenge will enable me to live with the peace of trusting God for each moment, this moment only, then the next, and so on. Will you join me? Uni-taskers unite!

You don’t have to take part for 30 days, but if you do then you’re giving yourself enough time to form new habits that may transform your life. Our friends and loved ones will benefit and so will we. Let’s try to savour the moment…starting now.