HOLY BOREDOM

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46.10

“Holy Boredom”

By Stephen L. Dunn

Recently Dianne and I were blessed with the gift of four days at a rustic cabin in the mountains of Fulton County PA.  We were celebrating our 40^th Anniversary with some special time together.  It was also a chance to escape a house that was almost neck deep in boxes as we were in the midst of packing up our house of eleven years to move.  (Did you ever notice how much you collect and then forget you ever owned until you have to move it to a new location?)

Our hosts, Dennis and Jean, graciously introduced to its comfortable amenities—which included being at the end of a lane in an area where the very few neighbors are very friendly, but things are quiet enough that you are likely to see deer standing in the field right outside your front door or hear a car on a road over two miles away.  It had a microwave and dishwasher so no one needed to spend much time in the kitchen.  Comfortable furniture inside where it was air conditioned.  Windows strategically placed to see the beauties of nature in every direction.  A front porch simply to rock and relax.

It also had no television or internet.  The nearest place with Wiifi was a McDonalds eleven miles away.  If you are a communications junkie, you were isolated beyond your wildest imagination. If you were hooked on ESPN or Rizolli and Iles, you were simply out of luck.

And that also made it incredibly quiet.

It was a place where media junkie or someone who always required the background noise of a TV to function—it was a place to be bored out of your skull.  There were times that even the nothing I was doing got old and I would seek something new to do from a selection that leaned towards stasis.

Most contemporary Americans find silence unnerving and boredom tends to be the unforgiveable sin from the day we are born.  We fill our days with many things to do, too many things usually to be done sanely if accomplished at all.  We find meaning in activity and worship accumulation as a measure of accomplishment—which is the measure of our self-worth.

It is interesting then that we hear these words from our Creator, “Be still and know that I am God.”  God rarely shouts or engages a publication relations firm.  He chooses silence at times to deliver His most compelling messages.  He tends to wait until we are ready to listen.

Busyness is the enemy of the soul because we rarely stop to hear God at all.

Perhaps a little holy boredom is God’s way of getting our attention.  That is, if we don’t rush to escape that boredom.

It’s a lesson that I, as a not-so-recovering workaholic, am trying to learn.

© 2012 BY STEPHEN L DUNN

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