
The Boss of Busyness
Carpool lines. Community group. Sports practice. Service Projects. Work deadlines. Worship service.
As much as we long for a break from our endless to dos, there’s something about busyness we often crave. Why else do we check our phone too many times on a day off? Our use our precious little free time to scroll through social media?
Sometimes we’re just curious. Sometimes we need a mindless way to unwind. But sometimes we simply don’t know what to do with the stillness.
Most days I wait until the late hours of the evening to pause. In one of these rare, quite moments I began thinking about the busyness. Conviction quickly set in.
I’m in a season with younger children who need lots of attention. I’m constantly taking someone to school or an activity. As a working mom, it can be hard to balance their care with my office obligations and my husband’s equally hectic schedule.
But if I look hard enough, I can still find a few minutes to slow down. The problem is that I seldom want to or know how.
Busyness can quickly become addicting. It is like an inner driver of our soul. It is comfortable and familiar. It keeps unoccupied, unable to pause long enough to think about the worries we bury deep within. It makes us feel strong and confident, like we can do everything for everyone.
As much as busyness seems like the thing that bosses us, ruling our modern lives, there may be a deeper truth. Busyness makes us feel like we’re the boss of our own lives.
In world that so often feels out of control, busyness makes us think we can control something — even if it’s just our own small sliver of space. But as we try to boss the busyness in our lives, we also miss out on blessings.
Amidst all the hustle and hurry, we miss God’s provision. In subtle ways we stop depending on him. We soon try to control not only our own lives but others’ too.
Busyness steals our joy. It erodes our faith. It numbs our compassion.
The false sense of security it gives us can crumble in a second. Staying busy cannot insulate us from grief. It cannot keep our children from struggling. It cannot prevent a diagnosis. It cannot help avoid a financial shortfall.
If you find your busyness constantly interrupted, consider it an invitation. God us wants us to open our white-knuckled hands and let him take the lead.
He is the boss. Everything that happens to us — no matter how hard or heartbreaking — passes through his hands. He wants to use all of life, including the hard things, to make us more like him.
So today pause from the busyness for even five minutes. Don’t fill the space. Don’t rush onto the next thing. Just sit.
Listen to how God is leading you. Then follow his lead.
Busyness isn’t our boss. And we aren’t the boss of our own busyness either. We were made for a better master. Will you follow him?

