On my way to work today, I placed an early morning call to one of my good friends, Mark Ford.  As we swapped stories about our children and ministries, I pulled up to the McDonald’s drive-through window and ordered an egg biscuit and a glass of water.

While still talking with Mark, I paid the $1.09 and proceeded forward to the pick-up window.   We continued our conversation for the next ten minutes as I drove north on Kansas Expressway toward the National Office.  As I pulled into my parking spot, it hit me – “Where’s my egg sandwich?” I asked myself out loud.

Though I had not eaten the sandwich, it was gone. The embarrassing truth – I was so engrossed in our conversation I drove right by the pick up window, never stopping to pick up my order.

Maybe multi-tasking isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be!  Perhaps that’s why the great missionary apostle wrote, “This one thing I do. . .” (Philippians 3:13).

I have a hunch I may not be the only one who tries to do so many things at one time that I don’t always do any one thing as well as I could or should.  Honestly, and I hate to admit this –  but sometimes I do the same thing at work – working on one project – then feeling an urgency to do something else, I switch gears. . .  You probably understand.

Based on this morning’s eggsperience, I’m thinking today about the importance of staying focused.

* Staying focused on the task at hand
* Planning my work and working my plan
* Avoiding the temptation to constantly multi-task.
* Using drive time to think, meditate, and worship instead of using the cell phone every time I get into the car
* Finishing one project before beginning another one
* Prioritizing my schedule each day and doing first things first

Living fragmentally tends to produce frustration, missed opportunities, and an unsettled feeling inside. Staying focused, on the other hand, allows me to seize opportunities, stay energized, and live with a great sense of inner peace.  Staying focused is essential to finishing strong!

By the way — the egg sandwich is still at McDonalds on the corner of Sunshine and Kansas Expressway.  I didn’t think it was worth the time and gas to return for the sandwich – so I went to our National Office cafeteria and purchased another one. :)

jmp

Any thoughts on this?  I’d love to hear from you?

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Encouragement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.