Lent 42. Pause

These days I very rarely just sit down and watch the telly.   Usually I've got the telly on and Im also doing something else.  Im either tidying up and stacking the dishwasher and doing houseworky stuff.
 Or Im in bed with the telly on but also on the laptop chatting to friends, playing Scrabble or, indeed, writing this blog :)   The telly is sort of like the raido.  On in the background and Im listening to it.  And every now and again I stop typing or tidying or whatever to watch for a while.   But mostly Im doing two things at once

This morning in the car I was listening to the radio  ( there I go again..... two things at once :) )  and there was a discussion about the pace of life.   How technology has speeded things up beyond all recognition in the past twenty years.   We used to have to wait for the news until the next days papers were printed.  Now the news is tweeted as it happens and is old an hour after it happens.  We communicate quickly, travel quickly, develop products and ideas quickly.  Speed is of the essence it would appear.    And then theres the sort of backlash response to it by people who think that everything is getting a bit ridiculous -  which is slow food and mindfulness and that sort of thing.

All of this got me to thinking about a word in the Psalms.   Selah.   Pause.   Stop to consider.   Reflect and digest what has just been said.  Chew over the words and let them have an effect.   Did you know that the more slowly you do something or learn something the better your cognition ( understanding, intellectual capacity)?  You actually better your brains by taking things more slowly.   The radio man this morning said of multi-tasking  '  of course multi tasking isnt being able to do several things at once.  It's being able to switch attention rapidly between different things.   So each task is getting a fraction of your attention before you switch to the next task.   Tasks are completed to a higher standard and in less time if you do one at a time.  Multi-tasking is no great achievement'.    Interesting.

Another astonishing fact.   According to the man on the radio average life expectancy has increased by six hours a day every day since World War Two  !!  Isnt that an amazing statistic?   So we are all living longer and we are living faster.   Cramming more in.  Taking less time to do more things less well.

The Bible encourages us to slow down.  Pause.  Breathe deep.  Meditate.  Pray.  Worship.  Care for each other.  Develop character and nurture faith.   You cant do those things on speed dial.  They take time.

Jesus took 40 days.   Time out with His Father.   No work.  No relationships.  No demands on His time or expectations of others.  Just wilderness and aloneness, silence and peace.   If Jesus needed that time in an age where the pace of life was slow how much more do we need it in our super speedy zip zap hyperactive era?   God commanded that we have a day of rest every week .  A day.  A whole 24 hours.  Because we need it to function well as human beings.  And to function optimally, rather than doing more more quickly, maybe we need to be slowing down a bit - taking time to think about things properly, finish things off well, give our full attention to people who matter.

Just a thought

Selah