Emily heaved a heavy sigh. She had just finished tidying up her room (a.k.a. shoving the dirty laundry under the bed and shoving everything else into the closet). Mom had also asked her to sweep the kitchen floor.

Half-heartedly, she made her way to the kitchen and ran the broom around a little before finishing up with the dustpan. Good. Now she was finished with her chores.

Mom had said that when she was done, she could play the new computer game that she had found. Sitting in front of the computer, she soon found herself lost in the game, climbing the levels, jumping, shooting, dodging every obstacle in her way. She had just made it to the fourth level—a cool underwater fortress with labyrinth-like halls and little green fish-dudes that she had to kill—when Mom walked in.

“Emily, did you finish your chores?”

“Uh huh,” Emily responded distractedly. The fish-dudes had ganged up on her and had her pinned in a corner.

Mom sighed. “I think you need to try sweeping again. There’s still rice all over the floor from when Bobby spilled it last night.”

“Then maybe Bobby should clean it up,” she declared, frustrated. Didn’t Mom see that she was in the middle of something? “I already swept the kitchen.”

“Ok, Emily. Time to get off the computer. You’ve been on there long enough. Come sweep the floor again.”

“Just a minute! I’m almost done.”

“Now, Emily. Come re-sweep the floor.”

Emily could see that her game was going to take longer than a few minutes to conquer the fish-dudes, so even though she was going to lose her place in the level, she quit the game and slowly got up from the computer. “Fine,” she grumbled.

Sweeping the floor this time, she was careful to pick up the rice. Maybe her mom wouldn’t notice that she had skipped across the corners. Putting the broom away, she once again made her way towards the computer. She really wanted to see what was at the end of that level.

Mom was still in the room, though, and stopped her. “Emily, I think you’ve played that game enough today. I’d like you to do something else.”

“But, Mom!” Emily protested. “I’ve barely played at all, and I was almost done with the level.”

“You can finish it tomorrow. It’s not good for you to be at the computer all day, and besides, I’m sure the others want some time with it as well.”

“Fine. Can I watch a movie then?” she bargained.

“No,” Mom said firmly.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Emily demanded, flinging her arms up.

Mom smiled. “You haven’t used your paint set for a while. Why don’t you paint something?”

“I don’t know what to paint.” Emily sighed again. Painting is boring. Why wouldn’t Mom let her do something interesting?

“Pleeaase, can’t I watch a movie?” she pleaded. “I could just watch VeggieTales. They’re not as long as a full movie.”

“Emily,” Mom said sternly. “I said no.”

“But I’m bored! You won’t let me use the computer or anything.”

Mom, not letting her get away with nagging, smiled. “I’m sure I can find a few more chores for you since you’re so bored.”

Emily huffed in frustration. “Maybe I’ll read a book or something.” She turned and ran up the stairs before Mom could dump chores on her. If there was one thing that was more boring than being bored, it was chores.

“Ugh! I’m bored out of my mind!” Emily muttered as she threw herself backwards on her bed to stare at the ceiling.

_________________________________

Ok, let’s be honest here. How many of you have ever done this?

I know I did once or twice, although it was a very long time ago.

Can you point out some of the loving behaviors going on in our story?

Yeah, neither can I.

The truth is, there is absolutely nothing loving about Emily’s behavior. Let’s examine the heart of the issue.

Emily mentions several times that she is bored. Chores are boring. Painting is boring. She’s “bored out of her mind”. In fact, everything seems to be boring except for playing her game or watching a movie. Playing a game or watching a movie. Hmm. Those things sound like pure entertainment.

All Emily can think about is entertaining herself with her game or with a movie. She even skips through the work her mom gave her, cutting corners and doing a half-hearted, unfinished job. When Mom calls her away from the entertainment of the game, she is frustrated and snappy with her mom, angry that she is taking her away from her entertainment. She nags her about watching a movie, and tries to bargain to get back to her entertainment—entertainment that isn’t really valuable or helping Emily deepen or widen her interests. In fact, according to Emily’s bored attitude, she doesn’t really have interests, because interests (like painting) are “boring” too.

Don’t get me wrong! Entertainment isn’t wrong. It is good to take a break and enjoy entertainment every now and then. I love watching movies! I like playing games, even though I’m not very good at them! But entertainment should never be the focus of our constant thoughts or something we seek after doing all the time.

In today’s culture, boredom has become so common that it feels normal. We let ourselves think that it’s okay to be bored, that it’s normal, and even expected. However, we don’t judge attitudes by our culture’s standards or expectations. We compare our attitudes to God’s law, the law of love. The simple question is: Is being bored loving?

The simple answer is: Absolutely not.

So if it’s unloving, then it must also be sinful.

Yes, that’s right. Being bored is sinful. Here’s why.

From the moment of our creation, God put in us interests, talents, and bents. He means for us to spend our time working with Him to develop our skills and explore the interests He put in us. He gave us all of these gifts so that we can become who He made us to be. When we go around twiddling our thumbs, searching for constant entertainment, and avoiding and ignoring developing our interests, we are wasting the time He gives us to develop the skills and abilities He put in us. We are snubbing our noses and throwing away the gifts he prepared for us so that we can be a blessing to others! How incredibly ungrateful and selfish!

I am reminded of a scene from a movie where a grandfather painstakingly builds a dollhouse for his granddaughter, carving each little piece and painting little details inside with care. On Christmas morning she opens it up, promptly bursts into tears, and exclaims, “It’s the wrong one!” She starts screaming and crying as her grandfather sits there, disappointed that his work and care are completely unwanted and discarded with a glance.

How ungrateful! How unloving!

When we let ourselves spend our time in boredom, we are being ungrateful for our life. We are wasting our time. It is a self-centered attitude where the focus of all our thoughts is on entertaining ourselves. We know when something is all about us, it is immediately selfish and completely unloving. Boredom is not just a “normal” attitude, and it is most certainly not okay. It is something to repent of, something we need to apologize for, and do our best never to do again.

I encourage you to think about the times when you are bored this week. I pray that your conscience will remind you how unloving and how ungrateful it is to waste your time searching after endless entertainment. I pray that the Holy Spirit, through your conscience, will help you to know when you might be slipping into boredom, and that you will be able to change your attitude to willingly work on building skill in your interests instead of wasting your time.

Love,

Rachel and Annie

P.S. Annie wrote the story for this lesson. Thanks, Sis! Love you!

Bored Out of My Mind