October 12, 2006
Mind Your Knitting
In my youth I attended a tiny community church where Mrs. Smith (name changed) regularly brought her knitting and knitted during church and Sunday school. Although we might consider her behavior distracting, rude and a bad example, she probably felt she was just multitasking. I sometimes think the busyness displayed in today’s worship service can be as disconcerting as Mrs. Smith knitting during the sermon. For many, being bombarded with sights and sounds meant to enhance the worship experience, has in fact left us distracted and thirsting for a time of quiet, reverent communion with the Lord. I don’t foresee changes to the current worship service on the horizon, so maybe I should take up knitting.
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Gail;
----I have always had two things going on at once. I grew up building model cars and airplanes. If I sat to watch television, I had to have one of those model kits in my lap. If I sat at the desk to design a frame or work out some math, I had to have the radio going, or a ball game on TV that did not require a lot of visual attention. I have always recognized the benefits of having something going on in my hands while something else was going on in my mind.
----But I have also recognized the detriments. After twelve years of public school and eight years of college, I am more than well acquainted with the principle of full attention for learning. The mind cannot be split between two tasks and learn new concepts at the same time, at least not deep concepts. But whenever the material turned shallow or familiar, I either doodled or took notes left handed (I am right handed) to stay alert.
----Maybe there is a bit of benefit in the distractions of contemporary services, given the depth of intelligence involved.
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