The book which has done most to help me unpack my busyness - why I get too busy, how to tell if I'm too busy, and what to do about my busyness - is Tim Chester's The Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness (reviewed by Nicole here).The most helpful thing Tim Chester does in his book is to talk about the why of busyness: the lies we believe which make us overly busy. Here's what he says about busyness, how to tell if it's a problem, and how over-busyness reveals our hearts.
There's nothing wrong with being busy. The truth is most of us like being busy ... Busyness itself is not a problem. In anybody's life there will be periods of intense activity. The problem comes when we are persistently over-busy. If you life doesn't reflect the biblical pattern of work and rest then something is wrong ...
If God doesn't expect me to do more than I can, the key question to ask ourselves is: Why am I trying to do more than I can? ...
I want to suggest that much, perhaps most, of the pressure to be busy comes from within. ... At the heart of our busyness is our heart. We're busy because we're working hard to meet the desires of our hearts. ...
Think about what that might mean for your busyness. Do you ever think your busyness is inevitable, unavoidable or appropriate? I want to suggest that it may be none of those things. It may be that your heart is deceiving you. ...
The test you need to apply to your busyness is this: if it produces bad fruit then it reflects the evil desires of your heart. ... If your health, marriage, friendships, Christian service or relationship with God is suffering because of your busyness then you need to address the idols in your life. You need to identify the desires of your heart that make you try to do more than God expects of you.
That's exactly what I want to do during the first posts of my new series on busyness: to talk about the lies behind my, and perhaps your, busyness. What are the idols of your heart which drive you to do more than God expects from you?
Excerpts are from Tim Chester's The Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness pp. 35, 78-84.
4 comments:
Hi Jean.
I'm interested in your posts on burn out and stuff. And I will read this book... just as soon as I have time!
My current thinking is that life is insanely busy and that's fairly unavoidable if you want to be serving others. Just to get the kids to school in the morning is hectic, I may have a few hours of calm after that, but then the afternoon slot - 2.30-7.00 is unavoidably full-on. Homework, music practice, art lessons, sport... and our kids only do one extra-curriculum thing each! And that's without serving anyone outside the my family.
I don't really have anything to say - just wanted to say that I'm interested in the topic. I'd love to hear how you balance stuff you are writing in this series with the Titus 2 stuff you've also written about how we must take responsibility for teaching and training the next generation of women. Feeling that I must be responsible for more than I'm currently doing is what pushes me from insanely busy and coping pretty well to insanely busy and burnt out.
[But I like the Titus 2 ideas you've written about...]
Thanks, Simone, and I agree - life is insanely busy, and much of that is unavoidable! One of the good things about the TC book is that he acknowledges this and talks about attitudes to busyness mattering more than exactly how busy we are. We can do less but if the attitudes don't change, there's not much point.
But it is also true that we often try to do more than we should for all kinds of unhelpful reasons: because we think we are god, because we get significance from what we do, and so on. We do more than God gives us to do. This is burnout territory.
Complicated, I know, and like you, I look forward to seeing how I put it all together! ;)
For me, one of the idols that drives busyness is the good opinion of others. I find myself too busy when I am worrying about what other people think of me and my efforts rather than worrying about what God wants me to be/do.
I also think I worry too much about what I do rather than who I am. I wonder if the Titus 2 stuff happens by who we are as well as by 'doing' more? Just thinking aloud as I read this post...
Thanks, looking forward to your thoughts/posts/comments.
Yes, Kath, I agree: Titus 2 is often about being, not doing - e.g. living as a godly example for other women as we're involved in one another's lives - especially during busy seasons when there's not much time for more formal ministries. Out of that example and involvement will grow many informal opportunities for encouraging one another in godly womanhood.
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