Boredom

Good morning, Five Minute Families. We are going to do a two-part series about boredom. That’s right. Boredom. Boring. Bored. Now, we aren’t talking about the eight-year-old who isn’t allowed to be on his devices for the day so he goes around saying he is bored. We are going to talk about a bored family, one in which most if not all of the family members would classify their family life as boring. So, first this week, we are going to explore reasons why we as a family can get bored. Evening after evening, weekend after weekend sometimes families find themselves in a season of boredom. Boredom can come from many different situations.The reality of the world we live in today is that most of us are technologically overstimulated. We are fed ongoing, ever-changing sets of information that give constant stimulation to the brain. The trouble is that conversations in real time are slower, they have more interruptions, especially depending on the ages of any children in the home, and often times we need extra time to really convey our thoughts. We must remember that the information we have constantly downloading and the videos we watch are most often only after multiple retakes and heavy editing, yet still so often we expect our family members to understand our inaccurate descriptions of said videos or we get aggravated when a family member can’t engage the way we want, as fast as we want, so then we all turn back to feed the dopamine loop our devices deliver, leaving us less and less satisfied with real-life interactions. Thus, family life bores us, and we grow more and more distant and disconnected. Sometimes, our family life has become too routine. We know what to expect, have experienced the same things day in and day out for weeks, months, or years, and the monotony has become boring. Routine can be helpful especially for children and neuro-divergent people, like people with autism or adhd. Interestingly, however, just like devices create a dopamine release, so does novelty. Having something different to look forward to often reduces stress and increases creativity, leading to a less bored outlook. The flipside of having become too routine is being too disorganized. You might be wondering how being disorganized leads to be boredom… well, if the parents haven’t planned and organized family time, then the typical propensity for everyone is to disengage and find their own things to do in downtime, and, you guessed it, the typical activity to turn to is device use.Some families find that they are afraid to engage in outside activities or biblical community participation. Unfortunately, some folks are raised in way that suggests anything fun is a waste of time and nothing but hard work is a waste of time. But, John 10:10 tells is that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Or, maybe you are nervous because your toddler is going through a whirlwind, deviant phase, so you retreat into the house to maintain control. Whatever your reason may be for fearing engagement with your biblical community, realize that it may be directly contributing to your family’s boredom, and you may need to explore the reason and ask God to guide what activities you should get involved in together.And, finally, all too often, we begin to live meaningless lives. We aren’t sure of what our gifts are, or think we don’t have any gifts. Or we believe that because we are still learning and growing we are somehow incapable of serving for the Lord. Whatever the reason, we begin to just go through the motions of living without any meaning or purpose behind our actions. Which, yep, you guessed it, often leads us to be bored with our meaningless lives. Paul states in Philippians 4:12 “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” If your family is in a season of boredom, please join us next week while we discuss options for ways a five-minute family can break the boredom loop and begin to enjoy family time again. May God enlighten the eyes of your hearts that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Be blessed!