Are You Too Busy? Replace Busy With Something Better

Years ago I decided to take the word “busy” out of my vocabulary. It’s true. I rarely say it today. Back then, however, I was at a point in my life where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Ever been there? My life was hurried and harried. As the saying goes, I met myself coming and going. Somedays I ran just to catch myself. I was one miserable woman. I knew something needed to change. But how? How does one stop being so busy? Could it be possible to replace busy with something else?

After all, I was the queen of busy. With places to go and people to see. I had goals and dreams to achieve and items to cross off my to-do list. My life was all about accomplishment. I was focused on doing more, being more, achieving more, and finding the most efficient ways to do it all. Even though I considered my busyness for God’s glory. After all, I was doing it all for Him, right??

If you asked me how I was back then, I would have likely responded with my usual, “I’m really busy. How are you?” Then I would half-heartedly listen to your response, because come on, I was busy! Cue eye roll.

Busyness was something I could control, until it began to control me.

I wore busyness like a badge of honor. Busyness made me feel important, valued, accepted. Being one who likes to think she’s in control, busyness was something I had thought I had mastered. So much so, it became an addiction of sorts. And we all know what happens with addictions. They take over. They begin to rule us, to affect every thought we think, every word we say, every action we take. I was becoming someone I didn’t recognize, and it was startling.

I had lived in its grips for so long, I didn’t know how to un-busy myself. So, I started with one thing. Because our words are powerful, and what we tell ourselves and the words we use matter, I stopped saying I was busy. I began to replace busy with statements like, “my life is full,” or “I am active,” or “my days are lively.” It was difficult at first until I got the hang of it. But I started to notice a difference.

Replacing busy in my words helped me replace busy in my life.

When I changed my words, interestingly, my life began to change. It didn’t happen overnight, no. But over time my pace slowed. My mind slowed. My heartbeat slowed. Even though I still had my lists and goals and schedules, working with them became a joy and no longer a duty.

Even though I made this change a number of years ago, because we live in a culture that thrives off of busy, I still have to fight against my tendency to hop back into the fast lane. It’s an intentional, daily choice to un-busy my life. It’s a choice to replace busy with something better.

I believe that something better is God’s best for us.

Don’t get me wrong. Busy, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. After all, God’s Word addresses idleness and laziness.

A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.

Proverbs 18:9 NLT

But, when busy becomes unhealthy, it’s time to take a step back. Replacing busy with something better–God’s best–brings peace, joy, light-heartedness, and fulfillment. Being so busy isn’t God’s best for us. Seeking Him in every area of our lives, is.

Friend, are you too busy? I invite you to take a moment to examine your life. Is your schedule so jammed-packed that you feel you can’t take a break? Are you overwhelmed with all that’s on your plate? Do you often use the word “busy” to describe you or your life? Could it be time to replace busy in your vocabulary, and quite possibly replace it in your life?

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 MSG

God bless you today, friend. Thanks for being here.

Much love,

Click here to read Why Are We In Such A Hurry post.