Tuesday, February 16^th, ‘10

All rights reserved © message by Kris Jackson

BORED TO DEATH!

“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15)

Literally! MailOnline says that “people with ‘high levels’ of tedium are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to die from heart disease or stroke [as] those satisfied with their lot”. A 25-year study of over 7,000 civil servants reported that those who “said they were bored were nearly 40 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the study than those who did not”. Researcher Martin Shipley, who co-wrote the report to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said, “The findings on heart disease show there was sufficient evidence to say there is a link with boredom”. And there you go, an explanation why some guys who retire don’t survive long away from their factory buddies.

Instinctively we have known that a person needs to stay occupied, with meaningful work, serving others, even a hobby or taking care of a pet. Exercise is vital to youthfulness. But mere activity isn’t the solution. The heart needs purpose, not just the emotional heart but also the physical. Boredom doesn’t save energy, it saps it. Someone protested that the heaviest load is not having anything to carry. The oil gets thick and sluggish when the engine is seldom cranked. The brightest twinkle glistens from the eyes of active people. It’s called having lights on in the windows, but the dynamic comes from deeper down. A whole variety of positive neurotransmitters are released in the bloodstreams of expectant, excited, positive individuals.

Your chores may consist of tedium but they don’t have to evoke boredom. Whatever the believer does is to be done as unto the Lord. Service as to Christ turns a job into a joy, chores into cheers. He tells us that faithfulness in the little, the tedious and boring, prepares us for management over much. The problem is when you know what you’re doing is dead-end. In that case, you have too much potential and too few years to be sitting around bored. In such cases, the old advice was, go west young man. Break out of the rut. Try a new sport. Do something unpredictable. Hang gliding? Whatever turns your crank. George Bush, the elder, jumps out of airplanes. Better to live like you were dying than to die like you were living, if your living didn’t move the excitement meter a single point.

Working up a sweat and a good heart rate pushes boredom right out the skin pores. If your knees will take it there’s still time to take up tennis. Solomon warned that “slothfulness casts into a deep sleep”. We know from experience that the more you sit the more tired you get. That seems backward. One would think that the way to conserve fuel would be to shut the motor off, but not so. A generator produces energy by motion and revolution. A turbine has to rotate. They call it vegetating or vegging out because the passivity is like that of a vegetable. And vegetables turn black. Or that’s basically what was addressed in the above report. Find a need and fill it. Find a wound and heal it. Stay involved, but stay involved with purpose and it may well add to longevity. For to say, “I’m bored to death” may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.