Boredom and Peace
Happy New Year 2024 to the person reading this message. It has been an entire year since I posted my last message on this blog. My hope and commitment is to post a message once a month. This commitment is not for a particular reason but only to allow God to provide you (and I) a word which will keep our focus on Him.
Will you join me?
Boredom and Peace
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m bored.” I’m bored and have nothing to do and nowhere to go. I wish I had something to do. My life tends to be a cycle of routine full of boredom. This person may have even said, “My life is boring.”
Perhaps this person, is you?
The words boredom and peace crossed my mind a while ago because I heard a few people describe their life as boring. This notion of being bored is a real thing but I wonder are we missing the freedom to be bored (at peace)? Are we missing a unique meaning and experience in being bored (stillness)?
Stay with me.
If we look up the word bored at Dictionary.com describes it as “feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity.” Now, I agree some things we do could possibly be boring. Perhaps you are bored with watching sports or a weekly event you attend to support your friend. There can be a long list of things which fit this description, but I would like to remind you that your perception and reaction are two different responses.
How many times were you bored, but then you or someone else was able to change the experience? You ever attend an event and want to leave in the first 15 minutes but then 3 hours later you were glad you stayed?
You see our problem is not boredom but how we allow our perception (which is not always accurate) to shape our response. An example is people who tend to watch other people live instead of enjoying the life God gave them. Why? Because of the perception that their life is so much better.
Listen. All of us experience the emotion of being bored. I do every time I take training for work or watch a certain sport (I won’t say which one). But my life is not defined by boring moments. If anything, I am grateful for the peace of not being busy all the time. I am thankful to be surrounded by drama-free people. I love that I am good watching TV and laughing on the couch with only Jesus and I. I have learned to make myself laugh. I have learned if I am truly bored then I can change my response and stimulate myself in certain situations. Sometimes, I appreciate the slowness in the day so I can breathe and think.
As you finish this message and allow the Lord to speak to you. Think about is this you. Do you think your life is boring? The Lord didn’t create you to always have a full calendar, constantly on the go, and living a facade on social media (or in-person) while your soul is dying off screen. The Lord created you to enjoy the freedoms of life which He planned and purposed for each individual person.
It is never boring to have a life full of peace and quiet. It is never boring to have absolutely nothing to do on the weekend. It is never boring to make time only for you and God.
I hope you hear me when I say you are not boring. Your life is NOT BORING! You have been created and molded by the Lord almighty. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and the Lord has never made anything boring. Everything He has and will continue to do is extraordinary.
Now try to live your life as your life, and not through the lenses of others.