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Focal verse
Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you (Proverbs 4:25).
Reflection
Some days, doing one thing at a time might be the holiest prayer we can offer.
Maybe you can relate: I’m so used to multitasking and thinking of three things at once that I’m rarely able to focus on one task at a time. I can check my email and social media while cleaning up the kitchen or picking up toys. I can start the laundry while talking on the phone. I can go from one internet browser to another. I can listen to a podcast while walking the dog or driving. Even while writing this piece, I can check email or pick up the dishes left from breakfast.
Having children in the house means one kid wants me to help her organize her room while the other wants me to watch him play with his Lego bricks. Dinner needs to be made, snacks have to be doled out, and someone wants a book read to them.
There are many demands for our time—and so much temptation to do it all simultaneously.
Perhaps in this season of Lent, we’re being called to slow down. To not do all the things, but rather, to do just one. To focus. To pay attention.
What would it look like to give sole focus to, for example, washing the dishes? To feel the water on your hands? To give thanks for the people you feed and for those who provide your food?
What would it look like to simply gaze at your children as they play, with no phones or thoughts of what’s next, but simply being present? To give thanks for fresh air and for the energy and excitement of youth?
What would it look like to read a book without distraction? One that you can feel and touch and smell? That transports you to new places, experiences and ideas? That invites you to sit?
Doing one thing at a time can be a Lenten prayer. It takes some practice and intentionality. It takes finding one thing and letting everything else fall away.
Practices
- Pick one thing to focus on this Lent as a family. Maybe it’s reading a devotional book over dinner—such as ’Twas the Season of Lent by Glenys Nellist (Zonderkidz, 2024)—making a meal for another family once a week, or simplifying your own meals by having soup weekly.
- Go to extra services as a family if available at your church and see what you notice about the gatherings.
Prayer practice
Go outside as a family and take a few minutes to listen. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. What do you hear? Offer a prayer of thanks for the world around you and ask God to be with you as you listen for God’s voice amid your life.
