Busyness not busyness, but busy ness seems epidemic, perhaps pandemic now days, and with it, the mantra of how good multitasking is, while multitasking is often necessary in some circumstances, motherhood as an example, research and common sense states that multitasking is detrimental to being mindful, busyness, faithfulness, and consistency. These are the topics for today's podcast, so much of our lives and our days are filled with busyness. Much of the busyness is job related or commitment related and cannot be avoided, and then we add to that wanting to connect and have relationships or pursue our hobbies and the things we enjoy so we multitask. Attempting to squeeze out of each minute, all that we possibly can for efficiency sake and hope that we will free up more time. We mop the kitchen floor while preparing a meal and get the tea brewing for the next batch of Kombucha. We take that busyness call while working on the project on our computer. We call a friend to catch up and while so doing dust furniture while we talk gardening, we listen to a podcast and clean out the garden shed inbetween tossing weeds into the bin. You get the idea, when I was waitressing, I'm mastered multitasking, sort of a requirement to a fit, efficiently serve the patrons. It just made sense to me the way I organize my time and I was quite proud of my skillset. This skill transferred over to other areas of my life and now looking back though I was perhaps efficient. I wonder if I missed much of life in exchange for efficiency missing the moment because I was focusing on what was next, missing the moments forever gone in the shuffle of all we have to do. I believe we miss out on living and enjoying life if we don't practice being engaged in the moment. If we don't practice mindfulness, the moments slip by, and here's a disturbing statistic. A couple of decades ago, the average attention span of an adult was 20 minutes. Now it is. Are you ready for this? Nine seconds, thanks to social media and phones that have us instantly connected for whatever sound byte of information we want coupled with the drive to get tons done to multitask. We have reduced our ability to pay attention from nearly a half hour to less than 10 seconds, nine seconds. It takes me longer to p nine seconds. That's a reduction in and being in the moment and mindful and it's no longer measured in minutes, but just a few seconds. A nine second attention span is grounds for a diagnosis of add or Adhd. Now I'm not making light of this diagnosis, but do you see where the epidemic may not be the letters as much as our lifestyle practices that there might be not be the need for an astronomical proportion of medicated peoples, but a change in how many of us do life busyness a part of life and culture, but can we do busyness different? Do we have to fill every waking hour with things to do and tasks to accomplish? Can we dump some things only due to the most important things? Can we do busy differently? I think so. It starts with our mindset, uh, choosing to be in the moment more than getting tons done, uh, choosing to not get it all done or doing it all because ultimately these little tasks like cleaning out the drawer right now is not as important as looking at your child in his eyes while he tells you his story about his day to not do so. To let this moment pass and moments like these pass your child will soon learn soon. Learn that getting stuff done is more important than connecting and meeting soul needs and the practice of continuing to work on a project, on the blue screen while speaking with a client. Well, people can usually tell when we're not really listening, when we are not truly engaged in the conversation. And often we miss important details because we are not intentional with the conversation. How can we be when our brain is also attempting to do something else for efficiency sake. And how about we no longer choose to hurriedly clean up the kitchen immediately after a meal when we've had guests over. Because how often have we missed the spontaneity of conversation and connection, segregated, isolated in the kitchen. The cleanup will happen later and that's okay. Or sometimes people join in the cleanup. The importance is to stay engaged with the people around you rather than worrying about the busyness of a task busyness. It segues into the habitual days of routine amidst our busyness where we may ask ourselves, does any of this really matter or make a difference? You know, caring for the little things, the everyday commitments. Is it worth it? I struggled with wanting to make a difference somewhere. I think of that kid on the trike from the movie the incredibles, remember him. It's the scene where Mr incredible sees the kid on the trike and asked what he's waiting for and the kid replies something amazing I guess, and that is what I wait for the opportunity to do something amazing. I'm still waiting, trying to slow my pace of life and level of busyness, learning to be mindful and engaged in the moments of life that really matter. You know, being consistent and faithful in the little things because it is in the little things that prepare us for the bigger things and sometimes the big things happen and we aren't even aware of them happening, how they have impacted lives. School teachers, medical professionals, military personnel, law enforcement people, volunteers, moms, we are often unaware of how are reaching out in small ways makes a big impact on a person. Consistency and faithfulness in the little things we know busyness. It's a fact of life. The level of busyness we can adjust accordingly, but busyness remains and we must be both faithful in what we do and consistent in our practices and as I often like to do, especially with words that I've grown too familiar with. I like to check the original definition. Sometimes they even check the contemporary definition, so what does faithful and consistency mean? Faithful is defined as remaining loyal and steadfast and loyal. It means giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution. Steadfast means was resolutely from and unwavering. Faithfulness segways nicely to consistency, which is defined as the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary in quality over time. It is unchanging in nature, standard or effect over time. Nice, Huh? For the little things in life that we must do the busyness we cannot avoid, we should be faithful and consistent from an unwavering and what we do with the level and quality of performance that does not change over time, meaning we do it to the best of our ability even as it has become routine. That is why it is important to prioritize with what we busy our times with. This is the only way we can be faithful and consistent in doing them and since it is humanly impossible to do it all, we must make some choices. Just how many clubs or sports or activities will we let each child participate in? How many volunteer groups will we be a part of? How much time will I devote to work? Perhaps wanting to advance my career? Will we hire a cleaning lady or we would clean our own home? There's always a choice and an option as to how we will fill our time, how busy we want to be, and this thought leads me to at the core of our being is the desire to have a purpose for what we do, the drive to live with a vision and a purpose. We want to make a difference in our part of the world where the use of our time, there is a desire common to humankind to make a difference. It is in the fabric of humanity to live for something bigger than ourselves and yet there are times and seasons of life where the everyday, the routine, the humdrum and monotony of days seem relentless and we judge them as holding little or no purpose, but faithfulness is learned over time and with practice. Consistency develops with faithfulness and here's what I am slowly learning. I am learning that his faithfulness in a little things that prepares me for the bigger things, the consistent practice of remaining steadfast in the little things I do doing them to the best of my ability always will bear fruit and other things and sometimes bigger things. Ladies, we are each created unique and wonderful with a magnificent purpose that we individually can only fulfill in a little area of our life, the sphere of our influence. Very often we do not see the purpose, but if we live with vision and intent, we can be assured that even in the routine, there is purpose to our lives. There are stories of teachers who remained unnamed, unknown that have touched the lives of those who have gone on to become astronauts or medical doctors on the cusp of discovery or missionaries who reached the last. The list goes on is that teacher any less in her contribution, her purpose, because we don't know her name, the fame and notoriety may not accompany her contribution, but in the eternal scheme of things she has noticed and cherished and honored. We measure too much of what we do against what others are doing. We most often harshly assess ourselves, falling short of some unnamed standard and feeling then like we have little to contribute. We abandoned using our gifts. The stodgy regime of my days often overwhelmed me. The monotony of maintaining a home can feel like stringing beads without a knot on the end. It is too easy to look at others' lives and see that they are making a difference, but me mopping the floor seems like such a waste of time, yet faithfulness in the little things pays dividends in my soul because doing all these things as unto the Lord rather than men puts it all in perspective and during these seasons where there seems more quiet than accomplishment, I have to remind myself of this truth, frequently faithful in each little thing, consistent in my practices and trust for the bigger things and those bigger things I may not even be aware of the big impact we may not even know how are reaching out has impacted others. Many faces it Ladies Demonstrate Faithfulness. I am blessed and encouraged by each one as they go about their days purposeful, committed and full of joy. Limiting their busyness as they live life on purpose. Living intentionally, women who fully embrace motherhood, reveling in this awesome relationship. Women who are faithful in their work or career, making a difference. Women who are faithfully help out other women because more health become more healthy, fit and strong, and women who use their gifts to create, to teach, to administrate, to organized, all done in faithfulness, in their faithfulness, more of their beauty is revealed. I have practiced far too often and too consistently the hurriedness of getting to the next thing because if I hurry to get to the next thing, next thing, then it gets me closer to the next thing and that next thing brings me closer to that thing I want to obtain. Fleeting though it is. Then I realized looking back, I've missed many and opportunity. Many have an opportunity to rejoice, celebrate, enjoy time with God. People's God has placed in my life and I think those of you who faithfully stick with me through these years of my oblivion, I've missed tender moments because I've let other things get the outside of the moment. And so now I am learning to be trained by the small things in my life like cleaning the horse stalls each morning, tidying up the kitchen from a mess, not my own. Preparing a meal and fundings like enjoying time of coffee with a friend in all of these to be faithful and consistent. I am learning, learning that I can write and share and listen. I can send cards and letters touching lives and I trust God for what he wants for my life, big or small, for his kingdom purposes, to be faithful and consistent. Hold onto this thought. A quote from Robert Collier. Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out. Thanks for listening. You've been with Sandra Vernon with the art of connection, and I really thank you for joining me today.