I can’t believe it, but within a day of getting out of school my kids started saying those words, “I’m bored. There is nothing to do.” I was just like this as a kid, but it does drive me a little crazy.
I usually reply: “Your boredom is not my responsibility. You are responsible for your boredom and you’ll never have as much free time in your life as you do now.” (Yes, I sound just like my mother). They’ve heard it so often that they repeat the last part of it with me.
If they keep moping around I tell them, “Since you are so bored why don’t you clean the kitchen or mow the yard?” This always gets a exasperated sigh and ends the conversation.
We all face the daily routine of life, and sometimes it begins to feel like the same ole, same ole. We get bored. The most powerful antidote to the boredom in my life has been to invite God into the monotony of each moment.
This God of order and surprise and beauty can come transform the same ole in our lives. We can welcome Him into our same old job and the same old day and the same old stuff, and He can make all things new.
In fact, the same stuff you did yesterday can be different today when you do it in light of the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, we have the lengthiest discussion of the resurrection and all that it means in the Bible.
Paul wraps up this discussion by noting that if Jesus rose from the dead, it means there is hope for eternal life, for new bodies and a new earth, but it also means hope for today: “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Cor. 15:58).
He doesn’t qualify it. Every act of kindness, goodness and love; every moment teaching a child or encouraging someone else; every prayer, every time you make food for a friend in crises, or give your best at your job, all of it matters if you do it with God in mind. Everything you do counts. It isn’t worthless thanks to the resurrection. It is “not in vain,” as some translations put it.
So when you do the same old dishes, wash the same old laundry, or go to the same old job, kiss the same old spouse (just kidding), give thanks to God and do these acts toward him as an act of worship.
God doesn’t just want to save us and forgive us, but he also wants to use us to bring hope and restoration to the world. We live between two time frames—Jesus' resurrection in the past and the hope of God’s new world in the future. And when we say yes to God each day, we find the daily grind infused with meaning.
Now if I could just figure out how to translate all of this to my 8 year old!
