When people ask you how you’re doing – have you every included the word “busy” in your answer?

One NY Times article called “The Busy Trap” that went viral commented, “It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.””

Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs  who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.

Yes, for most of us, busyness is a choice, and we kind of like it!

But what are its consequences?

One psychiatrist listed a few:

  • It is so easy with cellphones and BlackBerrys a touch away.
  • It is a kind of high.
  • It is a status symbol.
  • We’re afraid we’ll be left out if we slow down.
  • We avoid dealing with life’s really big issues — death, global warming, AIDS, terrorism — by running from task to task.
  • We do not know how not to be busy.

There are many, but we’ll focus today on the consequence for our neighbours, since Jesus said this was so important.

When I first moved to Ajax, it naturally took a little time to meet all our neighbours.  Most memorably, two distinct families said the same thing when they met us.  One said, “I’m really sorry we’re just meeting you, I had made cakepops for you guys, but then got too busy to bring them over.”  Another said the same thing, “my wife was going to bake a pie to welcome you, but we got too busy.”

It’s heartbreaking – firstly because I could have had some excellent desserts, but also because it’s obvious how hectic our lifestyles can be, and how it inhibits forming lifegiving relationships.

Question: On a scale from 1 to 10 how busy is your life right now?

Ryan Sim - October 10, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Partners To Friends

This week we’ve been exploring the story of Levi meeting Jesus, and having a big party with his former partners in crime, now his friends. Jesus’s transformative effect brings Levi’s colleagues into a new friendship with Levi first, then that friendship brings his friends into contact with Jesus. It’s no different today, this is very reason we held an outdoor movie night. We brought a bunch of people together over a great feast of popcorn. Our online users met one another, and made some new friends. This app and web site is meant to be more than a transaction, more than something to watch/listen to. It’s meant to bring us into community. It’s meant to be made up of real people, in real community with one another. Obviously movie nights and apps are large scale. But it depends on the small scale. It depends on people like you. You can be a Levi. At parties, people mingle and meet, and often discover things in common. So, have some people over to dinner, see what happens. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Or maybe have a hockey watching party, a playdate, a block party, whatever your scene is. Through that kind of party, I hope you and some people you know and work with, or have helped, will become friends, and friends can talk about what really matters. When followers of Jesus are present in the room and real deep things of life come up, I think that’s when Jesus enters the conversation, just like at Levi’s table. When he throws a great feast, his partners in crime learn the money grubbing tax collector actually isn’t driven by money anymore, but now he’s driven by love for Jesus, which makes him love them. Imagine the transformative effect on their lives. More than that, they just met a Jewish rabbi who will actually eat and drink with them, get to know them, love them, despite the risks, rather than standing outside and shaking his head. So, go and show your neighbours the same! Learn their names, stories, needs, and then become friends. Challenge: Plan a party, big or small! Please tell me the story, I’d love to hear how it goes.

From Series: "Won't You Be My Neighbour?"

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