Fighting the Culture of Busy

We are just all so busy — so very busy — and I feel like so many of us are trying to prove our value but what we do in a day.

The busier we are — the more important we may feel.

And there’s nothing wrong with trying to fill our day with doing good things — but “busy-ness” doesn’t necessarily translate to doing good things in the world.

In fact, if we allow ourselves to get too busy — we will quickly begin to lose sight of our humanity and the humanity of the people around us — until our activity just becomes a mindless, pointless distraction from actually becoming the men and women we were created to be.

I think all of us need to re-evaluate our relationship to busy.

I think all of us need to remind ourselves that “being busy” doesn’t make ourselves more important than the next guy — and then we need to encourage the people around us to remember that, too.

Honestly, so many of us are trying to hide behind “busy’. Very few of us are comfortable with being still — in fact, some of us find it quite unbearable.

And even when we are still, we often find ourselves turning to screens or books or other distractions — because being still can be very uncomfortable.

We all need to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable, because to make ourselves still and to open ourselves up to God can be a very uncomfortable thing.

As we sit in the Light of the God, we may begin to see somethings about ourselves that needs to change.

We may encounter the reality of our selfishness and self-centeredness and who really wants to have to face those things in ourselves?

But here is the thing: we can run from those things, but we really can’t hide.

We can try to immerse ourselves in busy-ness so we don’t have to face those things — but the rub of all that running is that we end up exhausted, spent, and a shell of the person we were meant to be.

Honestly, we are postponing the inevitable — because one day, we will die and we will have to make an account of the way we spent our days and nights.

At that point, there will be no going back, no “do-overs” — only a profound regret that we never took the time to face the ugly parts of ourselves and do something about it — while we still had the time.

If you and I really want to “be more” in this life we need to fight against the culture of busy and be brave enough to “do less”, to slow down and to pray.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t live active lives — but rather that we need to make sure our activity is rooted in the right things.

What if we began each day with prayer — and then acted, based on what we felt God was asking us to do with our day?

What if, today, we all stopped trying to add to our resume and actually focused on living a life that is worthy of our God-given call to love the people around us?

From personal experience, I can tell you that the easiest way to root our actions in prayer is to begin each day with prayer.

That’s right — before you open your phone, before you catch-up on the news, e-mail or social media — start your day with Love, Himself.

It’s the best way to ensure that your actions will be rooted in Love.

Just imagine if all our actions could became an extension of our prayer life? How would your life and my life look differently?

I can’t fully answer that question, but pretty sure we would discover that in rejecting the culture of busy and choosing to do less we would actually become more and do more good than we ever imagined was possible.

So for all of your striving to “BE MORE” in this life, my best word of advice is to begin by “DOING LESS”.

Only in the slowing down is it possible to really hear God’s call in your life and have the strength and the courage to do it.

Godspeed, good people!