The short answer is "yes."
The long answer - well, not many people want the long answer. Think about it. When we ask, "How are you?" do we really want a rundown of the other person's life? If the other person asks, "Do you want the short version or the long version?" which will we choose? If I were to ask, "Would you like the short sermon or the long sermon today?" what would your preference be?
This is actually going to be a short sermon. One of my friends told me that his priest once gave a sermon that went, "Love God. Be good. Amen." It's going to be longer than that, but only by a few minutes.
How many people with A.D.D. does it take to change a light bulb?
We all have attention deficit disorder. And it's getting worse. Last year I wrote a 5-page article for a website and many of my friends said that it was too long to read or that they had to read it over the course of a few days. Many authors have similar complaints, not about others, but about themselves, saying that they have been losing the ability to concentrate on anything for a sustained period.
Why is this? Many experts claim that it is because we are rewiring our brains through multitasking and the Internet.
Quick test:
1) Many experts claim what, exactly?
2) Who is Eutychas?*
* You didn't read the Scripture, did you?
In today's Scripture, Eutychas is listening to Paul drone on and on, and it's getting to be around midnight, and he finally naps out, falls out of the window and dies. Paul's friends are horrified. They probably say something like, "You killed him with your sermon!" And Paul feels terrible, so he runs downstairs and brings him back to life. Eutychas comes back upstairs and this time, he stays awake.
The shortening of our attention span is dangerous to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
PHYSICAL! MENTAL! EMOTIONAL! SPIRITUAL! Stay with me here.
Physical: If we're standing up to our waists at the beach, in the middle of big waves, we can't space out for even a few seconds, or we'll get wrecked. Likewise, the lifeguards can't drift off or they might miss someone in need of rescue. When we're driving, we need to pay attention to the people around us. I once got a ticket because I was trying to open a CD while driving, and got so distracted that I sped right past a police officer.
Mental: When our attention spans are brief, only short messages get through: sound bytes or highlights. We lose the ability to follow complicated arguments or to understand complex issues.
Emotional: The person who can't pay attention risks rupturing relationships. This almost happened to me last week. I was a passenger in my friends' car, and when we arrived at the restaurant, I got out of the front passenger seat and slammed the door. What I didn't know was that I'd locked the mom and kids in the back seat, because the back seat doors had safety locks on them. So I filed this away, we paid for the food and headed to the beach. When we got to the beach, I got out of the car and slammed the door. This time the mental lapse was kind of funny. But it wasn't funny a few hours later, when we got home and I did it again.
Spiritual: Many of Jesus' prospective followers didn't even give him a chance. They turned away, saying, "This teaching is too hard! Who could listen to it?" The failure to pay attention can wreck our spiritual lives if we neglect to read the Bible, if we miss what God is saying, if we drift through our lives without straightening up our act.
What were those four areas again?
Never mind, here's three new ones. We're almost done.
Three Types of Paying Attention
1) To ourselves; 2) To others; 3) To God.
To ourselves: When I was in therapy, I was asked to write down whatever I was feeling, whenever I was feeling it. I began by writing that I was annoyed to be doing the exercise. Then I was annoyed at being annoyed. This amused me, so I wrote that down. Then I felt guilty. Then somebody brought me a Coke and I felt happy. Then I worried that I was schizophrenic. But the point of the exercise was a good one. It's important to know how we are feeling, why we are feeling it, whether or not we are happy with it and whether or not it's something we should try to change. For example, we might find ourselves intensely angry or frustrated, and ask ourselves, "Is this out of proportion, or is this justified by the circumstances?"
To others: According to Scott Peck, "love is attention." His actual quote is a lot longer, but not as catchy. His point is that we honor others by paying attention to them: not only their words, but their inflection and body language. Are they in distress? Are they uncomfortable? Are we standing too close? Are they agreeing with us or trying to change the subject? Here are two pieces of advice that I've always liked (even though I've seldom done them):
1) Don't think of what you're going to say next until the other person has stopped speaking; and
2) Concentrate on each one-on-one conversation as if no one else were around. (In other words, don't look around for someone else that you want to talk to, should talk to, or want to hide from.)
To God: What is God saying? We have to pay attention to notice. God is always speaking, but we don't often hear him. We're too busy, and he's too quiet; although metaphorically, he's always waving his arms.
And God is paying attention to us. All the time. We are endlessly fascinating to him. But God is a great multitasker; we're not.
So how can we increase our attention spans? By doing one thing at a time, and by doing it well. By engaging in activities that require concentration: reflection, journaling, prayer. By forcing our minds back to the subject at hand when our attention begins to wander. By prioritizing, and by investigating the difference between entertainment and rest. There's a lot more to say, but I don't want to push it; thank you for your attention!
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.
~ William D. Longstaff, 1882
Richard Allen, August 2010
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