Boredom: The State of Being Weary and Restless through Lack of Interest

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because, in the last analysis,

all moments are key moments and life itself is grace."

Frederick Buechner

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest."

Jesus

How can it be that someone who leads such a full and interesting life can say, “I’m bored”? Yet that is how I have been feeling lately. I have been through seasons of loneliness that have brought me closer to the holy and hidden heart of Christ in me. But this seems to be a new test, a territory that I have bumped up against at times, yet a spiritual landscape that I have not spent much time in before, and hope that I will be led out of soon.

What lessons are to be learned through boredom? It seems obvious that you can learn things from pain, like patience and perseverance. And in exciting and glad times I can rejoice, but boredom seems to be a breeding ground for temptation; a mood of drudgery that propels me towards indifference and apathy. It seems the cure for boredom might be increased activity or new adventures, but in reality part of it stems from little time to rest and lack of interest in my current routines.

I don’t know how long I will be here, but I will let you know what I learn. In the meantime, I will come to Jesus and confess this condition of my heart, and I know he will show me the way out or the way through it, whichever is best for me.