I often do crochet work during the sermon at church. (Yes, the pastor knows- Josiah insisted on the front row for a couple years.)
For a couple decades now, I've had trouble staying awake during the sermon. I doesn't have anything to do with the subject, preacher, or how much sleep I've gotten. (though the sleep issue does help) I noticed I had the same problem staying awake during classes that were between 10 and 12 as well. (Angela- if you're reading this, I know you're laughing!) I sat in choir lofts most of my college years- and several after that, and the job of the person next to me was to keep me from falling over. Most of the ways I could think of to stay awake were to distracting, and I still would miss the teaching.
So eventually I discovered if I did some sort of work with my hands that didn't take much concentration, I could stay awake and be able to pay attention to the sermon.
Learning how to crochet made it easy. I keep a project in a bag and ready to go every Sunday. Scarves, blankets, etc. I consider them extra-blessed since the majority of the work done on them is during the sermons. They take a long time to finish that way, but the point is to keep me alert. With my fingers busy, I can focus on the lesson- on the Word, and not be distracted my trying to stay awake- or anything else, really. (And I get distracted pretty easily these days.)
Right now I'm working on a baby blanket. It's taken long enough that who it's for has changed twice, and may again. I've been going along well on it, but the skein of yarn got so tangled, I'm having to re-roll the ball- while it's still attached to the partially-made blanket. So that's my Sunday project at the moment- untangling yarn.
A few minutes into the sermon, I heard the lady behind me 'whisper' to her husband that my yarn was too distracting.
My Yarn?
I could understand if made noise, or I was throwing it around, but it was all either on my lap or beside me on the pew. And I admit I've done far more potentially distracting things over the years, including nursing Grace.
And this after a reminder to not let my Worship become distracting while on praise team. I didn't think distraction would be a problem on one of the back pews...
So there was my quandary: Do I put away the busywork that's helping me focus because it is disrupting someone else? Or should I continue my focus on what I'm learning, and not worry with what someone shouldn't really be bothered with in the first place?
