Where do you go from busyness?

So its past 1am and I'm pretty tired. Its been a busy few weeks and I've got a busy week ahead, so don't expect too much blogging. However, I've been reflecting recently on how we should respond to busyness and thought I'd blog my late night incoherent thoughts.

I've heard many churches preach that busyness in this life is an evil which Christ came to save us from. Yet in my experience there are few busier people than Christians. Why this paradox? Is it because busy Christians are Marthas seeking self-justification, or is it because the Gospel demands we pour ourself out in service of others?

I think it is good to be busy. My dad once commented that there is nothing sadder than someone with too much time on their hands. He works with quite a lot of elderly people, and the purposeless existence many of them live when retired and stripped of responsibility to employers and children is quite depressing. While I feel the pull of our leisure culture, ultimately it displays a society of people turned in on themselves. No hope and no joy - just temporary escape.

However, we soon realise that juggling lots of balls, means you drop them more often. And then there is the huge pile of balls that you cannot physically juggle. There are needs and opportunities everywhere you look, but your ability is so limited. Busyness then can be a great barometer of your faith, and sadly it often shows me up as a sinner; just as much as the command not to covet.

When busyness forces you to realise you've reached the end of yourself you have two options: you can pray more or you can pray less. Which to choose? Faced with the demand of busyness do I treat prayer as dead-time which can be reallocated to more productive uses, or desperately pray all the more realising the true depth of my inability and trusting in the mighty power of a Father who cares for me?

Please pray for my prayers.

Incidentally, if you want a phrase to chew over at length try Hebrews 4:11: "strive to enter that rest". And I've said it before, but Tim Chester's book on Busyness should be read by everybody.