We are a world of busy people.
“How are you today?” “Busy.”
“How was your day?” “Busy.”
“What have you got planned this weekend.” “I am so busy.”
Today’s world is a very fast-paced world. We are busy trying to keep up with daily life. There’s a lot to do to get it all done – yard work, jobs, housework, running kids here and there, emails, activities, laundry, bills to pay, etc.
We have become a society not only of “busyness” but of “‘glorified busyness”. The more BUSY we are, the more important we feel. We are in silent competition to be the busiest. We tell friends why we can’t meet them for lunch because we are “too busy” hoping to win that competition of “being the busiest”. We scoff at people who sit on their porch swing during the middle of the day and drink coffee saying things like “I wish I had time to sit on my porch swing and drink coffee”. (All the while truly wishing we could…….or would.)
We carry our cell phones around practically attached to our ear because we might miss a call, a text or an email that will create more glorified busyness for us! The mere act of carrying our phones constantly gives us that false security that we are the busiest person. The media glorifies busyness simply by showing large cities and successful people creating this image in our minds that if we keep up with a busy life we, too, can be successful.
At the end of the day, we lay down, tired, minds racing, things undone, more fast food for dinner, thinking over our day and rewarding ourselves for how busy we were and yet secretly dreading the next day to do it all over again. It’s like a gerbil on an exercise wheel. Constantly moving but going nowhere.
We have to stop glorifying BUSYNESS and start giving ourselves permission to be BUSY LESS. Don’t be “busy” for the sake of busyness. Don’t secretly look for opportunities to brag about your busyness or seek to win this silent competition of who is the busiest.
Put on the brakes. Pull out the Bible. Sit on the porch swing with a cup of coffee and ask God to lead you to His throne of grace. Take time for BUSY-LESS. Reprioritize your day – your activities. Don’t start your day with a busy to-do list and end it with a “look-what-I-did-today-because-I-was-so- busy list”. Start and end your day with God’s word and conversations with friends and family. Rest a while. Just BE silent! Just be busy-less.
Trust me – I am preaching to the choir. I get caught up in this every day. I am a list maker and I love seeing what I accomplished. I have accountability partners that we share what we have to get done and how much we accomplished. I’m not saying to not use lists, and that there are not days we are busy. I am just saying we need to look at our priorities and don’t let the pure ACT of being busy take over rest and peace and relationships.
Let’s try today to not even use the word BUSY. Let’s try today to not even Be BUSY. Let’s try today to be “Busy-LESS” and put “Busy-Ness” in our back pocket. Today…..let’s go swing a while! And have a cup of coffee. …………and invite a friend!!!
Psalm 91:1 – He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
