The Faith Journals: ~ Busy Yourself~

1 John 2:17

And the world is passing away along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I have several people in my life that when they list off what they're doing in a day I seem to get sympathy exhaustion . When I am with these people I often find myself moving even slower than usual simply because there is absolutely no way to even begin to keep up with them . I have busy days, weekends or months as well . Not as much these days, but I've known my fair share of , "what day is this ?" busyness . I'm all about being a go-getter, keeping your hands busy , YOLO and all that other what not, but I have begun to ask myself several questions when in the presence of this overwhelming, gotta be some kind of unhealthy busyness.

Are they genuinely "busy bodies" ? You know the people who simply can not sit still. They are more at rest in mundane movement and tasks than if they are sitting still .
If the answer to number 1. is no , then I wonder "why are they keeping themselves so busy ?".

Is it a attempt to keep out of "trouble" ?
Is it to keep their mind off of life situations ? Being single, family stress, job stress ? etc.
Is it that they feel the only way to serve is to serve allllllllll the time . (burn the candle at both ends )
Is it because they have no help in their world so all the "to-do's" fall on their shoulders .

No matter the answer I have a tendency to worry for these busy bee's . My instinct in most situations is that it is a mixture of 1 & 2 . Because there is so much on a persons mind due to life situations there can be at times more temptation to get into "trouble" in an attempt to avoid thinking on , dealing with , accepting , or acknowledging the life stuff . Especially when one knows themselves well enough to recognize that when in a stress of life situation the easy fall back is to get into "trouble" .

"It's better to be doing nothing than to be busy doing nothing. "

~ Zen saying

I have several people in particular that I find myself concerned with more often than others . Because I have had the chance to hear their hearts I fear for them in their constant busyness . While the intention may be to keep themselves out of "trouble", my fear is that it's only prolonging the inevitable "trouble". That "trouble" that comes from avoidance in the stress of life stuff .

For example: Single people who desire to be in a couple can at times keep their calendar so very full with work , friends , church , special events , charities , work outs , group outings, etc. that they leave them selves no time to think on , consider, or feel the loneliness that can possibly come from singleness . Why do I worry for this scenario ? Being single does not equal being lonely . I once heard a speaker say , "you think you're lonely now singletons, wait until you've rushed into a marriage for the sake of ridding yourself of the loneliness only to roll over , look into the eyes of your spouse and realize you're more lonely now than ever". I wish I'd written down the speakers name . I can't tell you how many times I hear those words in my own head when I think of settling because "i'm lonely today", "everyone else is doing it", "it's what I'm suppose to do", so on and so forth . That quote was one of the most frightening revelations I ever had and I'm so grateful for it . Every time I think of it I want to write this mystery speaker a THANK YOU letter ! It is my thought that if you don't know how to be you in the quiet , calm, alone times of life then I'm not sure you can know how to be you with someone else in the busy or calm . Also, singletons don't feel picked on there are a ton of other scenario's to use as examples , but this one I know from personal experience :-)

"Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings."

~ Jane Austen

My point ? If you are keeping yourself so busy with "things" are you leaving yourself any time to truly work on yourself ? Are these things aiding in your relationship with the Lord ? Are they a symbol of trust in His plans for you or a outward and active expression to Him of your distrust ? We calm ourselves by thinking these "things" that keep us busy are bettering us because we aren't at home scarfing down a pint of ice cream , crying while reading the Note Book and bellowing "I'm so lonely" at a frequency only dogs can hear . We tell ourselves that since we aren't doing "that" version of lonely our version is obviously better because it keeps us busy . I personally disagree with that mentality . (Uhm, Just for the meeting minutes that never happened, I just made it up . In all reality I would never read a book I can watch . HAHA!)

Proverbs 19:15 ESV

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

Yes, there are "things" to be done to better us . Yes, to be busy is at times better than being idle . I am not saying stop everything, change all your ways , do nothing but sit with your thoughts . What I am challenging you with is this , What do you busy yourself with and why ? For me it was totally worth evaluating . The answers gave me so much that I never would 've gleamed had I continued going at the chaotic rate I was . Whatever your life stresses are I pray that you can take a moment and evaluate your schedule along side His schedule for your life . Even if you are like me and in this place of "what is next?" , there is still a place to evaluate what you're spending your time on and why .

I pray that this post challenged , encouraged and instigated some thoughts for you . I love you all and desire Gods best for your life , for our lives . I believe He has a purpose for each and every one of us and the devil would like nothing more than to keep us so busy and self focused that we don't take time to embrace His schedule , to-do , and callings on/for our schedule . To be busy with the things of the Lord is a totally different kind of busy .

In His Love and Service -

Stacie