Multi-tasking God

I know it’s braggy, but I’m a great multi-tasker.  In a normal 4 – 5:00 p.m. timeframe during the day I may be g-chatting with my daughters on-line, switching over a load of laundry from washer to dryer between answering emails, wrapping a present, browsing articles, and monitoring the cookies in the oven, all with the t.v. on in the background.  And this is in a season when I don’t have a “real” job!  If you’re someone working full-time outside the home or a mom with young kids you might multiply that list times 10!

I love the quote “Ginger Rogers had to do everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.”  Women in particular just seem to be good at multi-tasking.  But what struck me today was that I bring that same drive to multi-task into my prayer life. 

As much as I believe, like I wrote the other day, that the casual comments and “little nothings” we share with God throughout the day are not “fake prayer”, I realized that I can get sucked into majoring on a multi-tasking relationship with God that’s very shallow.  He’s GOD, and I realized He seldom gets my completely undivided attention.  At least my undivided attention in prayer. 

I have a friend who was at the grocery store with her toddler in line at the check out, unloading things, crossing items off her list, juggling an infant in a baby carrier, all while her toddler was sharing a very “important” story.  She tried to engage with him, and threw in a “Great, honey” every once in awhile, til finally from his seat in the grocery cart he got up and held her face between his chubby little hands, turned it towards his and said, “MOMMY!  Listen with your eyes!”  In other words, “I want your full attention!  I’m important!”

One of the things I do to try to overcome this tendency is to journal, but that still feels in the end more about me than about God.  Another thing I do is prayer walks, but…this is GOD I’m talking to!  He is my friend, but also my creator, redeemer, and Lord.  Surely he deserves my total focus. Is this ever an issue for you?  Are there ways you overcome the tendency to multi-task God?