This morning as I was taking a shower, I thought how great it would be have one more arm just to reach that spot in the center of my back. I looked over my body to see if there are any more hand like limbs protruding from my torso, but to my dismay I couldn't find any. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if I had eight flexible arms, like an octopus? Think of all the things I could do! And faster! And all at once! It would be a multitaskers dream come true!
As I reflect on all the "great" projects and ventures I've embraced over the past years, I've started to consider why God created me with only two hands. If two hands are 10x more effective than one hand, wouldn't we all be 100x more effective with four or eight hands? We could accomplish soooo much more!
But for some reason, God in His infinite wisdom has equipped us with no more than two hands. A few of us are more talented in juggling multiple tasks, but with there's always a limit were we inevitably drop something. Even with our hands full, we so often want to pick up one additional "little thing", only drop something else (usually bigger) from our hands. Then we cry out and ask God help us handle all this... "juggling".
Hmm,.. this makes me wonder,.. if God really wants us to juggle so many things at once, what exactly is He training us for?.... The circus?
Checked again, still only two hands attached to my body. So if we don't have eight hands and He's not training us for the circus, then why are we juggling all these things? Surely we haven't overloaded ourselves with so many unnescessary worries and burdens... Do we actually believe God wants us to handle all these things? Didn't Jesus teach us to "consider the octopus who multitasks so well"...? (check Matthew 6:25-26 if you're not sure)
I don't know about you, but I always seem to have my two (not eight) tentacles out grasping at new opportunities. Where do I get the idea I've been designed to handle all this? It recently became abundantly clear to me that I have not been blessed with the "gift of multitasking". In fact, I've started to believe this is not a "gift" at all, but a term which we have coined as an excuse to somehow manage our busy and overloaded lives...
Perhaps we should simplify our lives and concentrate on what we can do with two hands and not eight. Wouldn't our lives would be healthier and more balanced if we did no more than what we were designed to do? Rather than wishing we could handle more things, we should train the two hands we have, strengthen our grip on what's really important, and make our hands more flexible as life changes. Perhaps then our hands would be more fit to accomplish tasks, more free to catch the unexpected, and just maybe flexible enough to reach that evasive spot in the center of our back...
R.L. 23.01.2009
I remembered you mentioning at the Glen that you just began to blog. I am happy to have found your link to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all that you have written. I know that the more I try to do, the worse of I seem to be.
Reading this has reminded me of Nick Vujicic. Google him if you don't know who he is. He easily puts into perspective for me how blessed I am with all that I have. Even if I only have two arms and two legs.