I have migraines. Hateful and stomach-roiling. They come on in the middle of the night so by the time I wake up it's full-on-bar-the-door-blinding. I also have vasovagal syncope - a really fancy way of saying I pass out every time I throw up - had it since I was a child. It's scary if you're not used to it. Needless to say morning sickness was a challenge. Nowadays, every migraine is an adventure that could end up on the floor. Hubby drags himself out of a deep sleep to wet the washcloth and gather me up when I rally enough strength to walk/wobble back to bed. My amazing, empathetic PA has them, too, and she's prescribed some meds to help mitigate the impact if I get enough warning to take them in time. I play a little game called "beat the migraine" and I win if the pills kick in before the vasovagal thing. Only thing is I'm loopy for several hours afterward so any hope of being productive the next day goes right out the window. I had a migraine Monday night. Yesterday was a wash-out. Literally. I did laundry between the laying down and that's the only thing I accomplished. But it was a win! No floor pick-ups this time. So, yay me.
All I could think about was the stuff I should be doing - work, being the first priority, or clean house, or at least "enjoy" my sick day by reading. But there I was stretched out on the sofa, single-threaded. That's a tech term for processing one command at a time - something I learned from being a problem manager. I'm not very good at single-threading. It's certainly not something that's celebrated much - we don't brag, "I'm really good at doing only one thing at a time." No. We are more impressed with multi-taskers, "Look at me doing all this stuff at the same time!" I admit I rarely ever sit down to watch TV without reading a book at the same time, or scrolling through the Insta or The Facebook, or checking e-mail, or doing a puzzle on my phone (gotta keep that Alzheimers at bay). It looks like I'm not paying attention but try changing the channel and see what happens. Cause I'm multi-threaded. Yay me.
Of course, being unproductive isn't the best way to spend your life, but now and again I think it might do us good to lay down as many of the threads as possible and just take up one thing at a time. It would be best, though, if it wasn't precipitated by a debilitating malady. Matter of fact, might we possibly lessen the debilitating maladies if we single-threaded on our own? Point worth consideration. The Bible calls this practice meditating. I know that's a touchy word for some, but it's right there in Scripture... I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. (Psalm 119:15-16) It's a bit of a lost art, meditating. We are surrounded by noise - when is the last time you noticed silence? Something is always humming - the ceiling fan, the ice maker, the traffic outside. And distractions are everywhere... as close as the miniature high speed computer that fits in our palm. So, unless you're in post-migraine-fog, it has to be intentional. Like untangling the necklaces in the jewelry box - pick one chain, follow it to a knot and untangle it, then follow it to the next knot. Maybe sit with a Bible - no notebook, no workbook, just the Bible - and read one verse after the other... grace-chained together into chapters and books. Single threads of mercy and love, precept after precept. And wholly/holy delightful. Yay, God. There. That's more like it. Selah.
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