Blogs - Chief of Pray Blog

Busy, busy, busy. Business may just as well be called busy-ness. Multi-tasking has taken over my professional life, just as surely has it did when I was a young, single Mom, juggling work and my kids schedules. What’s my excuse now? I’m an empty-nester with a supportive husband, and nearly every hour of the day to spend on whatever I want to do with it. Here’s the rub. There’s so much I want to do! Let me give you an example of a recent morning and how multi-tasking has gotten out of hand.

Woke up my usual time, 5:00 a.m. (I can’t stay up past 9:30 at night, but I can easily rise before dawn). Sat down at my computer, checked email, wrote my daily blog post, packed up my laptop. There was an early prayer study and worship starting at 6:30 a.m. I threw on some clothes, washed my face, (while retaining yesterday’s eye-make-up), new blush and literally, dragged a comb through my hair.  I got to synagogue, plugged in my laptop at a work station in the town-center inspired lobby overlooking a beautiful courtyard.

I worked. I studied. I prayed. I had a bagel while discussing spirituality with a very nice man who came to say Kaddish (mourning prayer) for his recently deceased wife. He followed me over to my mobile office (laptop) and I showed him Prayables. 73 year old computer-illiterate men, are an easy crowd to impress. Had to cut the gab session short, I had a conference call scheduled at 8.

While still at the Synagogue, I opened Skype, and connected with the newest member of the Prayables team, Amanda, who is in Pittsburgh. I shared my desktop through TeamViewer, and we both worked in Google Docs where a “dashboard” for the prayer inventory is kept. If I’m losing you with the tech talk, just wait. Here’s the part everyone can relate to; I had to go to the bathroom. My synagogue is wired for wi-fi. So I picked up my laptop and brought it into the bathroom, where the lights went on automatically because they are on a sensor. Without missing a beat, I muted the Skype session, used the facilities and resumed the online orientation while the automated towel dispenser spit out just the right amount of paper for me to dry my hands. Synagogue membership—$2800. Doing business in the new millennium—priceless.

Thursday, End in Sight

Where has the week gone?
I see suddenly the approach of the finish line,
and yet my to-do list still looms large.
Please still my need to rush.
Help me take it one job at a time,
a steady jog—not sprint—
to the end of the working week.
There is more to life than hurry.
Thank You for giving me this day as proof.

-Lori Strawn