Thursday Night Reflections: The Weight of Busyness
2009 May 15
Notes from Immersion last night. Justin spoke a little bit about silence and then we did some Lectio Divina on Psalm 91.
- “God speaks in the silence.”
- 1 Kings 19 – God appeared to Elijah in a gentle whisper, not in the fire or earthquakes. Translation: God is not always the loudest voice around us. We have to pay attention.
- “We always say ‘I’m so busy!’ Guess what? Everyone is!“
- Two options: 1) You’re not actually busy, and just spending four hours a night watching your favorite TV show, 2) You actually are too busy, and you don’t think you need a break.
- “Our bodies are meant to rest.”
- “Busyness has become a badge of honor. We actually put value in it.” // KILLER line. That is SO true, especially on a college campus. People who win student awards and such are usually just those who are in the most activities. No offense to anyone who has won, I’m just sayin.
- “Jesus was not the energizer bunny and neither are you.” – He took quite a bit of time to rest and retreat. Even God rested after creation and made it holy in Genesis 2.
Biggest takeaway for me? We put value in being busy. I want to create more intentional times of rest. Remember, Jesus says loving God is the most important thing we can do. It is possible to serve too much and not take care of yourself and your body, and it can actually detract from your relationship with God.
What about for you?
Think about it.
P.S. I’ll have a post coming soon on my thoughts from our divine reading of Psalm 91.
Jeremy,
Yes, you are so right on with this blog. Our culture craves and thrives on busyness and in the church, we would benefit more from hearing this message on silence and stillness. Yes, our culture has made busyness a badge of honor. I am a wife of a wonderful, godly man and physician and mom to three wonderful kids, so sometimes it is tough to find the time to be still. Thankfully, our whole family is learning that God does want silence and stillness for us at times. For years, I fell into Satan’s traps of busyness, thinking as servants in the church, we need to be “BUSY” and do more, when really what is more important is being with our Father. The doing then just becomesa natural response. I did a blog few weeks back on this same topic, because it is an area where God has been really changing in me these last few years. If you can learn this lesson at such a young age and impart it to many other Christians, it could be such a blessing in the church. The body of Christ needs to hear this message. Thanks and blessings to you!
Wendy Ingram
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Thanks for the kind words Wendy! Amen!