Making Peace with Boredom

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

A certain amount of boredom is simply a fact of life, but involving ourselves in helping others is one way to make peace with it.

So there’s this guy — we’ll call him Barry. Barry has an important position as a manager at a major corporation, and lately, he’s been going full steam on a major project. He’s even devoted weekends and evenings to it, but finally it’s finished and it’s a great success. Barry receives all kinds of praise and his boss insists that Barry take some time off. Make up for all that time you spent away from your wife, his boss says, so Barry books a vacation for two. The first few days they take in some terrific shows, eat some great meals, even drive out to see the extended family. Barry’s wife enjoys every moment, and so does Barry, at first. By the fourth day, while his wife is doing a little shopping, Barry sits by the pool at the hotel and wonders what else there is to do. With nothing immediately on the agenda, Barry cracks open his laptop computer and logs on to the Internet. He browses a few news and business sites but finds nothing to capture his interest. He logs off, and begins to look forward to returning back to work the following Monday. Barry is bored. The guy’s more bored than a lumber mill. Somewhere else there’s this woman we’ll call Annie. She has always loved to cook, and had long dreamed of opening a catering business, and finally her dream came true. She’s been in business now for five years, and all things considered, it’s gone very well. She’s making money, catering interesting events and loving being her own boss. But for the last several months, the excitement she felt at the start has evaporated, and she moves mechanically through her days, doing her work, but without any joy. Her American Dream has come true. She works everyday at it and all of a sudden she wakes up one morning, looks into the mirror and she’s bored with it. There is no more personal thrill of achievement. She has already reached her goals. Then, at that moment, the despair, and the worry begin.

Barry and Annie are both suffering from boredom, but in different forms. Barry has “everyday boredom.” It’s the grown-up version of what a kid is feeling when he comes up to his parents and moans, “I’m bored! There’s nothing to doooo.” Parents sometimes respond by saying, “Well, why don’t you play with ...” and then reel off a list of all the toys and games the kid has in his room. Of course, that seldom works, because at that moment, he’s looking for new stimulation. We adults too, have our toys and games. We can go to the movies, the theater, the mall, the gym, the stadium or the entertainment complex set up in our own family room. But like Barry, some days, none of that is enough. Annie’s boredom, however, is not from lack of momentary stimulation. Hers is “existential boredom,” where meaning and purpose seem to have been drained out of her life. She does her work each day, and does it well, but inside, it all feels futile. The fact is, whether we are talking about everyday boredom or the existential variety, it’s a fact of life. Boredom is part of life.

The writer of Ecclesiastes has come to realize this as well. “Vanity of vanities!” he says. “All is vanity.” Those are the sentiments of a man suffering the boredom of existence. “I ... applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” Those are the words of a troubled man. He’s disturbed by the inability to find meaning in his daily life. He feels that nothing he has done or achieved makes any real difference, and he fears that he’ll go to his grave without discovering specific meaning and purpose to his existence. If life were simple and tidy, the author of Ecclesiastes would have gone on in his book to tell us how he discovered the key to overcoming boredom, and this sermon on his book would be titled something like “Three Easy Steps to an Exciting Life.” At the very least, he would tell us that by trusting God, all boredom would dissolve. But life isn’t simple and tidy, and if you read Ecclesiastes all the way through, you discover that the author doesn’t “conquer” boredom. Rather, he accommodates it as a part of his existence. Before he gets there, though, he tries several remedies, including self-indulgence, lavish spending and sensual pleasures. While he does find some immediate gratification, he also concludes that such is all the reward there is. But in the end, he makes peace his boredeom. And he comes to a few conclusions: Go your way, appreciate your family and passing pleasures, value wisdom and learning, and then this: “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’”. In other words, start with God, because God provides a baseline of meaning and purpose in life. Here’s a story that illustrates this point. A woman drove an armored vehicle that picked up and delivered money. Driving and stopping at stores and banks and waiting for the pickup or drop-off is what she did 10 hours a day, always covering the same route day after day. Talk about boredom! She struggled with her desire to quit and find another job but held on because of the medical insurance benefit and her fear of not finding a job that paid what she was currently making. She grew more and more bored, and before long, bitterness at her life circumstances began to set in. A life-changing turning point for her was the day she decided to give God her day and ask that it be used to accomplish God’s purposes. Instead of mindless existence, she began to use her time while she was waiting to pray — at first for her family and friends, then for concerns raised at church, and eventually she began to pray for the people she met and/or saw from the armored truck. Giving her boredom to God allowed God to transform it into meaning and purpose.”

There’s one more thing we can glean from boredom, but it’s something the author of Ecclesiastes never seemed to grasp. For all his experiments, he never tried helping others. It’s counterintuitive, but time and again, those who find an outlet for their lives that involves caring for others discover that whatever else life is, it isn’t boring. A certain amount of boredom is simply a fact of life, but involving ourselves in helping others is one way to make peace with it.
Of course, whatever our circumstances, God never promised us freedom from boredom. God promised to be with us through all things. And as we trust God and go faithfully about our daily tasks, God goes with us, giving us the opportunity to be at peace even when we’re bored.

Amen