Take a Chill Pill | Dethroning the Idol of Busyness

by Makayla Guzman

Want to know my least favorite bible verse? “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). I’m not kidding. It’s the verse that directly tells me to get rid of my personal idol, and I don’t like it. But here’s the story of how quarantine is taking it from being on my list of “Top Bible Commands That I Don’t Want To Follow” to rather being one of my life verses.

As I was taking a walk through my neighborhood the other evening, I noticed that everything around me seemed to reflect that we are in a season of transition.  From the half bloomed flowers on the bushes to the kids playing in shorts and sweatshirts on their front lawns, everything about right now speaks to a season of almost-there-but-not-quite-yet. Much like the movement from spring to summer, we are in the midst of a cultural shift with the effects of COVID-19 on a global scale, and it can be easy to feel like all we can do is ride it out and wait for what’s to come. But here’s the thing about transitions — being stretched between comfort zones is often when you are most vulnerable to making a change. Transitions can often feel like a time-lapse of instability. But who says that instability is always a bad thing? Hear me out: what if seasons of transition were more than just a waiting game but rather opportunities to make the choices you never would have made if you were still in your comfort zone?

My comfort zone is busyness. My security blanket has always been a full calendar. I see every social commitment and work event as a measurable marker of success. I did it! I was wanted. I’m sure you can see how this led to a lifestyle of constant rushing to things and through things. The real problem (apart from simply running myself into the ground) is that even though I have always been very aware how much I lean on my commitments as my affirmation, I refused to do anything to s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n my life and make a change.

How did this affect my relationship with Jesus, you might ask? Well, I was doing a lot of things FOR him but not WITH him. How did it affect my friendships? Other than my best friends, friendships were things I had to schedule out 3 weeks in advance. How did it affect my work? Boy, was I finding SO MUCH of my value in what I could bring to the table. Busyness had become such a huge idol in my heart that not only did I love being busy but I was overly defensive when someone would gently encourage me to pump the brakes. Nope, not going to happen. Give me one good reason why I would give up the thing that was a constant stream of affirmation?

Bottom line — I was stuck finding all my worth in how valuable I perceived myself to be to other people. What was masked as being super good at keeping lots of spinning plates from smashing to the ground was actually a manifestation of a deeper heart posture: Jesus was near the throne of my life, but I had crowned myself. And I was comfortable there. 

Then, quarantine. Cue the copious amounts of free time that I seemed to have on my hands. Awesome. 

Now that you know how much I struggled with my worth apart from my commitments, you might be thinking that my first reaction would be anger or frustration when all of a sudden that idol of busyness was threatened. But in an interesting turn of events, I truly found myself loving the new normal. You read that right. I had been introduced to the concept of free time, and man was I living the good life.

But reality check. Want to know what is mutually exclusive to having free time? Everyone’s favorite excuse: “I don’t have enough time.”

How often have I said that as my cop out for something I don’t want to do? More times than I want to put into writing, that’s for sure. Well, quarantine made that excuse go out the window, and what am I left with?

A choice.

In this season of transition, I’m left with the choice of how I want to invest each and every day. If I’m being honest, I often slap the excuse of “I don’t have enough time” onto direct instructions from the Bible. I would totally be still and know that He is God, if only I had enough time. I would absolutely take care of the orphans and widows (or anyone who was vulnerable and suffering), but I have other plans that I already committed to this weekend. I hear what you’re saying about praying without ceasing and giving thanks always, but I just have a thousand things on my mind that I need to process. I really wish I could show kindness by listening to the story of the stranger I happened to stand next to in line at the grocery store, but I’m already running late, so…

In a time when busyness became an easy way to not only affirm myself but also to ignore certain biblical instructions, quarantine became an opportunity to hit the reset button. Now, I want to be careful not to hyper-spiritualize how we spend our time.  Sometimes we say should say no to certain things and yes to others simply because they allow us to  rest, to do something we enjoy, or to build healthy habits. You can intentionally spend your time in a way that increases your love and worship of Jesus without it being directly “kingdom work”. My point is that how we spend our time should be intentional because it is directly investing in our character. The way we spend our time should be choices made based on biblical principles for living a full and godly life, not merely checking boxes on a pre-determined calendar of events. Like a robot workaholic. Or an out-of-touch socialite. How tragic would it be to look back on your life one day just to realize you simply reacted to everything around you rather than make choices that shaped your days into an abundant life?

“Be still and know that I am God.” When busyness became my idol, I became its slave. And as its slave, I was unable to be rest in the presence of Jesus the way that he has called us to do. I had another master. I am 100% a Martha when I should be striving to be a Mary (if that sounds like nonsense to you, take a minute to read the story of these sisters in Luke 10:38-42). The purpose of stillness is that it allows the Lord to be our sole focus and object of affection, to approach him in confidence with great humility, knowing fully that a day in his presence is better than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). To be renewed by his nearness. To be moved to worship without distraction.

So, unpopular opinion: quarantine has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It forced me to “be still” practically in a way that the Lord is using to teach me how to be still on a soul level. But we are on the verge of another transition. Hopefully normal life is right around the corner. And once again we will be faced with new choices of how we spend our time as we add things like school and work back into our routine. As you consider your life, I want to encourage you to spend your time intentionally. Lean into seasons of transition as the chance to build a habit, to reinvest the hours in your day in things with eternal value. Transitions can be open doors to shift your perspective towards things that delight our Savior. What will you do with this gift?

THINK ABOUT IT. WRITE ABOUT IT. PRAY ABOUT IT.

1 ) What is one command or instruction from the Bible that you have been ignoring with the excuse that you “don’t have enough time”?

2 ) What are some things that you like doing when you have the time that increase your joy, reminding you of the kindness and goodness of Jesus? (i.e. I love spending my time drinking coffee with a friend because I am encouraged by their company. I also love going on runs by the waterfront because I am reminded that Jesus breathed that view into existence. I love listening to musicians who excel in their art because it reminds me that worship can take place in creativity.)

3 ) Busyness might not be your idol. But something else is. What or who has taken the throne of your life? (Some sneaky idols: perfectionism, your reputation, comfort, independence, dreams and goals, your “me” time, etc.) What steps do you need to take to dethrone that idol?