What Should I Do When There's Nothing To Do?

Yeah, I'm sorry (sort of) but sometimes this cat is the perfect example of how I feel. 

Cause, let's face it, boredom is something every single one of us has faced at one point or another. For some people it only lasts a few hours, for others is stretches for years. You might get a break every now and then and have a project to work on, but for the most part you're stuck doing the same mundane things that never change. 

Stagnant would be a wonderful word to summarize that feeling.

and it's not that you're laying around doing absolutely nothing but eating potato chips and playing Mario Cart. (does anybody even play that anymore?) You're probably doing a fair amount of things that are just part of life. But something always seems to be missing.

 I've been going through this myself for a really long time. I've been doing all the things that are expected of a teenager/adult. I have a job working with amazing horses, I help a lot at home, I have friends I hang out with, I work on different hobbies, but it's the same every day. Nothing changes. I'm not making a difference in the world big enough for everybody to see. I'm not learning anything new.

Then I had a job interview.

Every question was something I had come to learn just by living my life. And I had perfected those attributes by being in the same situation for a really long time. 

The questions addressed things like handling conflict (learned from being in a big family), prioritizing projects (learned from juggling family activities with my own), knowing how to say No to new things that would overload my work schedule (learned from the job I was currently in), and other things that like.

All that time I spent thinking I was bored was really time that God was using to help me grow in the small areas I had never noticed. 

I used to always feel like I needed to have everything together and be busy doing things that the world recognized as making progressive steps towards success. I was a lot like Martha from Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed - or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

I was the Martha in this passage. I felt like I needed to be busy, busy, busy making a difference, jumping through the hoops that the world has set up as being the criteria for a successful adult, and being aggressively proactive. So when I wasn't doing one, or more, of those things I felt bored, discontented, and irritated with my life.

But when I read this passage I felt convicted. While Martha was busy doing all of these things that were expected of her through the eyes of the world, what was Mary doing? She was sitting at Christ's feet just listening to what He had to say. When Martha called Christ's attention to her sister's lack of activity, Jesus gently and lovingly tells her that only one thing is needed, and Mary had chosen that.

Now, don't get me wrong, Martha was doing really good things. She was preparing a meal for those in her house and being proactive with her life. She was doing exactly what the world would expect of somebody hosting a meal at their home.

Jesus didn't care about all of that. He didn't, and still doesn't, care about what the world says is the requirement for your life. He should always be the first in all that you do. All He wants is for you to sit at His feet and listen to His words. Because it's when we listen to Him that His will is revealed to us, and our life bears fruit that will bring satisfaction for all of eternity.

So, when your life feels stagnant, boring, and fruitless, it will only be like that if you try to live it for yourself, or strive to meet the World's standards. Take this wonderful break in the whirlwind of the world's crazy schedule to sit back and listen to God's Word. He wants your heart more than anything else you can offer.

Have you ever had a moment where you can look back and see how God used a period that for you seemed completely empty, but He used for good? I would love to hear about it! It's stories like those that bring encouragement to others who are in a similar situation.