“I’m Busy”
I’ve recently noticed something about myself. When friends ask “How are you doing?”, often times my default response is “busy.” Not, “I’m doing well” or “I’m keeping up” but “I’m busy.” In some ways this is understandable. I’m a pastor at a large church, I have a growing family, I’m out 3-4 nights a week for ministry related activities, and I shepherd a large group of High School and Junior High students. It seems that “busyness” is probably about the only thing that I have time for. What’s more, I know that I’m not the only person who struggles with busyness. Whether they be Doctors, Lawyers, House Wives, Computer Programmers, or Teachers everyone seems to be unbelievably “busy” these days.
In some ways this busyness is a good thing. 1) Keeping a busy schedule allows us to get more done, and frankly sometimes there’s just a lot that has to get done (i.e. raising the kids, making a living, etc.). 2) While it is possible to keep busy doing absolutely nothing, my experience is that most of the busy people I know are extremely hard workers and are very conscientious about their use of time. So, there are some good aspects to “busyness.”
On the other hand, “busyness” can oftentimes be nothing more than a veiled form of personal pride. Far too often busyness is simply a manifestation of my own desire for autonomy. I want to be able to do what needs to be done without having to rely on anyone (including God) for help. Oswald Chambers described it like this, “We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses.”
So, what is the cure for this pride of busyness? You may be surprised to learn that it is not necessarily to do less things (although, it may very well be that something has to be cut out in the long term). There are seasons in life which present greater responsibilities than other seasons and those responsibilities simply have to be dealt with. The problem is not so much in the volume of things that I have to do, but rather in my attitude toward the things I have to do. Martin Luther once said, “I have so many things to do today that I must pray for two hours instead of my usual one.” The cure to the pride of busyness is to be still (Psalm 46:10) before God and to trust Him, even in the midst of busyness.
January 31 2010 05:00 am | Devotional