Nashville is under a sheet of ice. I have not left the house in… actually, I’ve lost count… a long time.

Okay, it isn’t that bad (yet). There have actually been a few exciting and even comical moments. Severely cutting my finger on a can and having to Gorilla Glue it back together falls in the exciting category. I don’t know if it is the toughest glue on earth, but it is strong enough to unite both halves of my index finger, which I feel is a ringing endorsement. The comical included making spaghetti using large pasta shells (sans stuffing) because we didn’t have any other type of pasta on hand and pushing an empty stroller up a frozen hill as a shopping cart at the gas station by our house to carry dog food. On the way, several concerned neighbors confirmed that I was aware there was, in fact, no baby in the stroller. Thank you.

That was my big outing. I have not left the house since. I have watched A LOT of Love It or List It. Even my husband got into the show, indicating that things are getting bleak. So, in light of all this, it seemed like the perfect time to write a blog about boredom. Or, some might say, a boring blog. It had been on my list for blog topics because since quitting my job and being home with a 15-month-old, I have found it is an experience of the human condition I am becoming more familiar with. Don’t get me wrong- Rosalind is really fun, and I love being with her, but at this point, our activity list is pretty short and runs on a loop. You can only read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? so many times before the answer is “Mama in a padded cell.”

It is said that boredom is a lack of imagination, and that statement has made me feel guilty. Downtime historically has been something I desperately avoided. I have been busy since high school. There has always been something to do. In fact, not doing something makes me feel anxious because it usually means neglecting a deadline or prior commitment. There were lots of things I would like to have gotten into if time had allowed, but it never did. I never let it. For a long time, my avoidance of stillness was something I even spiritualized. I filled my life with lots of good things, service-oriented things. But I was hiding in that work.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights, he fasted and became very hungry. (Matt 4: 1-2). 

And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper… And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 King 19:12-13)

I don’t want to be hungry, and I fear what the whispering voice might say. So I have kept myself very busy, with very good things to avoid quiet, solitude, and boredom at all costs.

It was after the wilderness that Christ’s ministry began. It was from the whisper that Elijah received his instructions for the next phase of his life. These passages indicate that the negative seasons we often perceive as the absence of productivity in our lives are actually where that process begins. While I am REALLY ready to get out of this house, I have decided that I disagree with the statement that boredom is a lack of imagination. I think it should be revised to this: remaining in boredom is a lack of imagination. But boredom itself can be a powerful catalyst for creativity.

I am starting to get more comfortable with the experience of boredom. Now that I have paused the 12-piece set of plates formerly spinning above me, I am finally doing some things I have always wanted to do: explore writing, read books (…for fun), invest in friendships on a deeper level, actually read my Bible… for enjoyment instead of as another daily item to check off my formally eternal to-do list. In this season of mental quiet I am growing in my Gospel understanding more than I ever did when I was busy doing good works, even doing a lot of Bible studies. I won’t pretend to be all zenned out (I am constitutionally incapable) or that I don’t make desperate runs to Target & aimlessly walk the aisles some days to kill time. But I am starting to see the beauty that can seep through the cracks of space in my life that boredom creates.

My challenge to myself and to you is to no longer run from it or feel guilty. Instead, to see boredom as an opportunity to branch out, or harder still, practice the art of quietness. Boredom is necessary for the imagination to have the room to move from daydreaming to dream building. Be it called “boredom” or just “quiet,” we need the stillness, the cleared-out space, in our lives to discover what we can construct. Or what He wants to reconstruct, possibly even destroy (sometimes the wall really does have it coming…).

Allow yourself some time. Let yourself get bored. See where it takes you. Boredom might be the best thing that ever happened.

( NOTE: check out Bored & Brilliant for some sweet science behind the productivity of boredom.)