Busyness

Nov 29, 2015
4 min read

Busyness

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 my house lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.” Haggai 1:5-9

Have you noticed

how we take pride in our busyness?

Occupied battlegrounds full of preoccupied warriors;

Hands idle with idols of a peaceless life.

Minds full of ironic desire:

friendless relationships,

private communities,

isolated fellowships,

alienated belonging.

Busyness.

A term coined during the industrial revolution

to describe the evolution

of the human institution

“living by meaningless activity.”

We know this, don’t we?

Even the wisest man cried

MEANINGLESS, EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS

when

life is devoid of God communion.

Let’s be real.

Busyness glorifies the flesh.

Busyness glorifies pride,

Pride glorifies selfishness,

Selfishness glorifies a lonely planet full of lonely people

Googling and posting and liking and tweeting

and usurping their ordained design to walk and talk with God.

Busyness robs our intended purpose to connect.

Busyness steals our ability to communicate truth.

Busyness destroys our hopes and dreams with a hammer of numbness bent upon countless hours of screen time instead of knee time and face-to-face time.

It transplants joy for ‘endorphins’,

peace for ‘keeping calm and carrying on’,

and validation for ‘likes’.

Life does not depend on being busy.

Busyness has been glamourized – glittered up with a sense of belonging (but, we are still longing), bedazzled with the mentality of becoming (but, we are still coming), and puffed up with the belief that if we are not busy, we are lazy.

Ironically, busyness can be an excuse for laziness.

You are not lazy if you have time:

Waiting time is not wasting time.

Being busy means there is no end in sight; there is no break, no rest, no peace, no quiet waters to restore the soul.

Being busy limits your potential to see, to feel, to be still and know.

Being busy frustrates to the point where you don’t even know how to let go.

Being busy pigeonholes your vision so you no longer seek first the Kingdom, only your renown.

Being busy fills up your life with stuff that will huff and puff and blow your house down.

Busy people become desperate people…

But, that is not what you were designed to become.

Listen, beloved.

Even while your answer to ‘how are you doing?’ has defaulted to ‘busy’

and the treadmill that we define as ‘life’ has you exhausted,

the invitation for you to “Come” has not expired or retired.

The One who desired your attentions from the days of Eden till now says:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out by religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly*.

Hush.

Be still.

Stop what you are doing. Do you even know what stop means?

Yes, I’m sure you heard me, but

let’s be doers of the word versus hearers of it,

and stop deceiving ourselves into thinking that Sunday mornings are good enough to keep our heads above water for seven days.

A lot can happen in seven days,

like creating the universe – and even then,

He who created all

took a

rest.

While busyness spawns worry, anxiety, fear, sickness, anger, frustration, excuses, abuses of body, mind, and spirit, stop and ask yourself: