Busywork

"Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness". (Eph 5:11 Msg)

Really, is busywork that bad? As a kid my father would get upset if he saw me doing "nothing". I might have been watching cartoons or playing but that, in his mind was doing "nothing". So, he would find something for me to do - busywork. What's wrong with doing nothing?

I think busywork is about control, distraction and numbing of the soul. Busywork has distracted me on many occasions from thinking about or doing something difficult, like apologizing to my wife or something else too painful to be faced. I've come to resent busywork. I hate the fact that at times I'm just moving because I don't know any other way or to avoid the difficult emotions that come when all the motion stops.

It does feel better, more fulfilling to be busy. It's like a drug. I think I'm recovering from the need to be busy and I'm beginning to take time more often to be still and focus my thoughts on the Lord. I find myself asking God to expose the things that make me want to be distracted with busywork and reveal his plan and purpose in those things. “Be still, and know that I am God".