I have a pretty hearty to-do list today. I’m sitting here having my quiet time, and I pulled out my index card on which I have written part of a prayer of David: “Give me an undivided heart” (Psalm 86:11). There is more to that prayer, and I risk taking it out of context. Still, it has given me words to express my desire to have everything I do somehow point me or others back to the Father.

How do go to Office Depot to get magenta ink so I can print stuff in black and white (that printer ink business is a racket!), get clothes at Kohl’s, take Savannah (our dog) to the vet, give her a bath first so the vet doesn’t call the SPCA, dust, vacuum, take in a pool water sample in to make sure I don’t kill someone with chemically unbalanced water, return some shorts to the store, go to the cleaners, go to Trader Joe’s, and do everything else I realize needs doing along the way, and still have a heart that is singularly focused on my Lord? It seems impossible to do both.

It kind of is impossible to do both. Have you seen those videos of a guy driving through an obstacle course while doing things on his phone? He ran over just about every pylon. We think we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time, but our brains aren’t able to do it. We can switch our focus back and forth, sometimes quickly, but we can only focus on one thing at a time. Period.

So the challenge is somehow to integrate my love for and service to my Lord with each task I do – to make them one. I bathe and take Savannah to the vet out of my love for her; I can intentionally experience gratitude for Savannah and the joy she brings to us. I can consciously be kind and merciful to anyone who helps me at the stores. I can be generous with other customers, patiently waiting in lines as I keep the priority of being loving and Christ-like above the desire to bang out my list. I can be thankful that I am able to buy magenta ink so I can print in black and white, and make the decision to accept that that is just how it is; getting frustrated about it is optional. I can pray for all those in my heart as I go about my tasks.

I have to stop writing, because I have a bunch of stuff to do today. Lord, be with me and in me as I do it.