The Idol of Busyness.

"How have you been recently?"

"Oh, not bad! I'm taking a few online classes, working two jobs, volunteering at church, and on the side I'm writing a novel. I stay up later than I ever have, and I practically live on green tea and strawberry sour punch straws. How about you?"

"Me? Just work, I guess."

"That must be nice... thinking: slacker."

Ever had that conversation? Or something similar? I have. And in an effort to be transparent and honest, I've found myself playing both roles over the years.

It's an interesting phenomenon, really. You can see it played out every Monday at school and every Sunday in church lobbies. People who haven't seen each other in a few days or weeks meet... and the talk quickly becomes a recounting of how terribly busy we are.

In the season I am in, I am being stripped and slowed. Continually stripped of pride in many areas, and given the opportunity to simply sit and learn.

The most recent area of stripping has been pride in the area of busyness.

I found myself being proud of the fact that I was busy.

And not very secretly proud either.

Sure, I complained about how I hadn't had a real day off in weeks, or how much work it all was... but somehow all of my complaining just started to sound more like bragging.

"Oh, I'm a NURSING major. It's so hard. I have no life!"

"I nanny for five boys. I'm always on the go!"

"Today I cooked three hot meals, dropped off and picked up children, helped with homework, wrote two papers, played checkers, then brought a Jamba Juice to my sick friend."

All of these things were very much true. But it simply turned into backhanded bragging. It was pride. It's like complaining that you didn't expect learning Spanish to be so difficult after you got such high scores in French, German, and 5th century Latin.

So God has slowly but surely stripped me of many of these things. and I'm STILL busy!

But this is what I've learned:

We've bought into the idol of busyness. We've accepted the story that is silently communicated to us- that value rests in what we can produce, that we are loved for accomplishments.

So we push ourselves harder and harder. We sleep less, work more, and accomplish a great deal.

Don't get me wrong: work is GOOD. School is GOOD. Living life is oh.so.GOOD.

But in the process, we begin to forget how to
sit,
and think,
and breathe,
and pray,
and read,
and listen,
and have a real conversation with a friend or family member,
and savor a liquid for its flavors and complexities, not its ability to chemically induce wakefulness.

There's a dirty little secret that the busyness is harboring: It promises a full and satisfying life, but in the end, it makes our lives emptier.

We live less, serve less, feel less, even love less.

If there is one thing I would love to communicate in this post, it's this: Value is NOT determined by what your produce. Your loveliness is not based on what you accomplish.

Balancing work with rest is so so worthwhile. God rested.

Perhaps we should give that a try sometime.

Praying that my eyes would be fixated on Christ alone, and my days would be consciously lived out for His glory.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31.

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17.

"Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." Haggai 1:5-9