simplifying life part 3: being "too busy" is not actually that cool

Here it is: the final post in my series on how b and I have tried to simplify our lives over the last year. I saved this one for last because it has been the most challenging and most rewarding for me.

Our society is big on status symbols. Cars. Houses. Boats. Clothes.

And busyness.

In fact, I would argue that busyness trumps just about any other status symbol one can posses these days. Even people who don't openly desire big boats and fancy cars are lured by the coolness of being "too busy."

It works like this - the more obligations you have, the more demands on your time, then the more valuable your time must be. The more you reject pleasures like reading a good book, having coffee with a friend, or taking your kids to the park, then the more successful you are bound to be. The more devices you have strapped to your belt, beeping and squawking for your attention, then the more people will realize that you are a serious person who makes things happen in this world.

We've acquired the mentality of sharks - keep moving or die. Never stop. Never rest. Just keep doing. Keep succeeding. Keep conquering.

And here's the funniest thing. I am a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ, whose entire life and ministry on earth was focused on rejecting the chaos of the world and focusing and the simple and the important - loving God and loving those around us. Yet modern Christianity in this country has become so infected with the "busy is cool" mentality that you can't really be considered a serous church member unless you are leading three Bible studies, helping with the youth group, street witnessing on Saturdays and running the annual bake sale. Many Christians are the most annoyingly busy people I know.

For the last three years or more, this mentality has dominated my life. I haven't been a workaholic, but that's only because b is good about pitching a fit when my life gets too full of obligations. She has had to be on her guard constantly as I have gone from one thing to the next in an ongoing attempt to achieve optimum busyness.

Slowly, over the last year, God has gotten my attention. This is what I have learned: it's good to serve and help people. It's good to volunteer. It's good to have a job and even to get promoted. It's good to pursue more education and to improve your skill. But when these things become objects in and of themselves, then you have lost the point. When you sacrifice time with God for the sake of "serving" God, then you have lost the point. When you sacrifice time with your family for the sake of getting a few more dollars into your savings account, then you have lost the point.

I lost the point. But over the last year I have gotten it back. And it comes in the form of a really good novel in a hammock on a summer evening. It comes in the form of playing lincoln logs on the living room floor with j and o for an entire afternoon. It comes in the form of spending my evenings worshipping God and praying. These are the things that matter in life. These are the things to fight for and protect.

The rest is just busyness. And busyness is just not that cool.