Better Than Boredom

Yesterday, I felt like a useless sack of potatoes.

Let’s just say that the dog days of summer have begun…and it’s only May 9th.

I’m definitely happy to be done with school. I’m excited for the sunshine, my family’s beach vacation, time with friends, and my graduation ceremony. I’ll eventually be busy with my friend’s wedding, the graduation banquet at church, and my sister’s birthday party.

But even with all the activities ahead, I know I’ll still experience feelings of boredom, restlessness, and purposelessness.

So am I allowed to be bored? After all, my youth pastor says that if you’re truly living out your faith, you’ll never be bored.

If I was volunteering at the food pantry, making cards for the sick, cooking meals for the homeless, sewing blankets for shut-ins, doing street evangelism, and praying for persecuted Christians worldwide, I guess I wouldn’t have time to be bored.

I have a lot of great ideas about how to spend my summer well, but I lack the follow-through.

I’m helping with Vacation Bible School, playing piano for offertory, and making my sister cookies. Shouldn’t that be enough? Are my efforts ever enough? Is it okay to just be bored every now and again?

To be honest, I hate the feeling of boredom because when I feel bored, I feel useless (much like a sack of potatoes, as I previously mentioned). I feel guilty for wasting my time and for not using it to help other people.

But where do I draw the line?

I can always do more to help others, but does that mean I should? The Bible doesn’t give me a list of all the activities that I need to do this summer.

So what things should I do to spend my summer well?

I can deepen my relationship with God by spending more time in His Word, in prayer, and in worship. I can learn to trust God with my issues instead of worry about them. I can spend more time with my family. I can improve my writing and my blog. I can write consistently, guest post for other blogs, and learn new tips that will help me grow as a writer and blogger.

What does your summer look like?

Does it include baking a cake for your new neighbors, going on a mission trip, starting an Etsy business, paying for the meal of the person in front of you at Burger King, sharing a gospel tract with a stranger, watching toddlers during church services, reading the book of Proverbs, jogging on a daily basis, or sending a note to your sick grandmother?

I have no idea what you should do this summer, but I know there’s something you need to do.

Use your summer well. I know it sounds cliché (and you should know by now that I despise cliché-ness), but that’s the best advice I have for you. God will lead you to the right opportunities if you ask Him.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 NKJV)

I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:22 NASB)

Like every other season of life, you can make this the best or the worst of times. So choose your activities well. Don’t waste a moment. If you do nothing else this summer, learn to lean more on Christ and less on yourself.

Boredom happens. It’s okay to feel a little restless sometimes. Just don’t sleep in until noon every day or spend all your time on Instagram because He has much better plans for you—even for the next three months of summer.