The Busyness of Life

By Jessica Myers

Youth Pastor

I don’t know about your schedule, but this summer for me has been crazy busy. I am not entirely sure where the entire month of June went! The teens have been busy participating in regional BLAST at MVNU, NYI convention, a weeklong mission trip to Chicago, C4 camp and all of the in between things. Its crazy how time can just fly by and you don’t notice it. 
 
When I was a teen, not that long ago, my youth pastor taught a lesson on being busy. He shared the acronym that being busy was Being Under Satan’s Yoke. This has stuck with me over the years and I think of it when things get crazy and time starts passing me by. This is a tactic of the devil. If he cannot hinder our relationship with God by making us immoral, he makes us busy. Just look around and you will see the proof of this sad truth.  
 
I was lying in bed thinking of all the things that need to get done and adding things to my to-do list and I remembered this scripture:
 
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
 
Where has our busyness gotten us? It makes us tired because our busyness cuts into our sleep time, and when we do get to sleep a little, we don’t sleep very well. Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, “Too much activity gives you restless dreams” (NLT). Our busy lifestyles makes us less healthy too. We push ourselves past the point of where our bodies function normally. We often suffer for it with headaches, stomachaches, anxiety, depression, etc. This isn’t how God wanted us to live. He wants “A peaceful heart [that] leads to a healthy body" (Proverbs 14:30, NLT). 
 
Besides costing us our health and peace of mind, our busy lifestyles can cost us our relationships. When we are rushed and under pressure, we have a tendency to mistreat the people around us. Because of this, our relationships with our spouses, children, friends, and family suffer. But even more than that, our relationship with God suffers. If you are too busy to spend time with God, then you are too busy! We have to spend regular, quality time with the people we love, including God, in order to deepen our relationships and move past the shallow, meaningless, and unfulfilling status that they are when we are busy.  
 
What are you giving your attention to? What keeps you busy? Maybe its time we ask God what He wants us to change or things we need to say “no” to. It’s hard to say “no” to things that have good intentions. And, when we get so busy, we tend to push our relationship with Christ to the back burner, and we become burnt out and tired and weary, even though we are doing “good” things. We must fill our time with God’s business.
 
God doesn’t expect us to make changes like this on our own. I like how the Eugene Peterson put these same verses from Matthew in the Message: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
 
Summers are still going to be full of events, camps, sports, vacations, mission trips, but I encourage you to stop, be aware, say “no” sometimes and don’t be caught being BUSY. Spend some time in His presence today and let Him teach you how to follow in His footsteps and take a real rest.