The Myth of Boredom

Lately I have been fed up with hearing the kids and teens (and even some adults!) around me talk about being "bored". I just got a mass-forwarded message from a girl in our youth group that said she was bored and invited anyone to come make cookies with her, or do anything (and it got rather racy after that), as long as it entertained her.

WHAT? You are telling me that in our world where millions of people are screaming for aid, we here in America are so spoiled that we are sitting around throwing a tantrum and screaming for entertainment? This is just a symptom of the epidemic of selfishness that we are happily feasting upon. We help ourselves to Narcissism by posting pictures of ourselves on My Space or Facebook, hoping that people will post about how lovely we are. We analyze and typify our "look" and do everything we can to be unique with our overly casual clothing from Abercrombie (et al). We eat and drink and watch and listen to whatever we want, whenever we want. And then. . . we are bored.

It is such a mockery of what we are created for! Of course we are bored! God did not create us to make much of ourselves, but to make much of HIM! I mostly find myself bored when I have run out of things to do that serve myself, and I am usually putting off what I really need to be doing. The next time we feel bored, we ought to fall on our faces in repentance and ask the Lord to inspire us with a joyful service for Him!

Here are some ideas (this is what I replied to the girl in my youth group): read your Bible (or read it again, or start a new study in it), paint a picture that characterizes an attribute of God, ask a family member or neighbor if they need help with anything, read a book, write a letter, play a game with a child, pray for unsaved friends, contemplate a way you can save money (or make money) to help a really unfortunate portion of the world's population, such as AIDS orphans, research an organization that works to rescue girls from the brothels in Bombay, go for a run, clean something, go through your stuff and get rid of a bunch of it. . . the list goes on and on.