A POSITIVE APPROACH TO FEELING BORED

We’re halfway through summer school vacation and I’m sure in some homes today there are children who are saying to one of their parents, “I’m bored. I don’t know what to do.”

We all have seasons where the routine of life seems to become dull and we feel less enthusiastic about what we are involved with than we previously did.  Sometimes that can lead us to feeling sorry for ourselves and easily getting angry with others.  The real root of the problem is just that we are bored and as we used to say “we have a case of the blahs.” 

It is a fair question to ask why we are bored and impatient with where life is at today.  Are we seeking out people who can help us understand what is going on in us, or do we just like to complain and blame?  Everything in life takes time to accomplish.  Perhaps we could spend time being helpful to others while waiting for things to happen for ourselves.  Telling ourselves that we are bored and feeling depressed about it does not produce change.

We are encouraged to take positive action to deal with boredom and make something of the day by these words from the Bible.

We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 

Hebrews 12:1

Boredom is often brought about by lack of action. It often doesn’t take a lot of work to overcome boredom, just getting going and taking even one positive action.  

Loving Father, we admit that boredom lurks in our thoughts and we acknowledge to ourselves and You that this is a signal that we need to take positive and live-giving action. We offer our experience of boredom to You and ask You  to point us to positive action and deeper growth in our relationship with you. We first of all want to filter our thoughts as You told us when You said:  

… always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things.

Philippians 4:8

Give us a fresh perspective of all we have in life for which we need to be thankful.  Give us eyes to see what dark and negative thoughts need to be thrown out and what new and fresh perspectives need to be welcomed and embraced. 

Refresh us God by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  You promised that You would be like a spring of living water flowing in us and we want to welcome that refreshing today to wash out the bland and boring that we’ve allowed to creep in. 

Help us to make wise decisions in the use of our time today, seek sound counsel as needed, and get going with doing those things that please You.  Amen