Solitude

First of all, to anyone who might have even noticed, I have been off this blog for quite awhile. Like everything that gets disrupted it has been a combination of busyness, forgetfulness and at times a lack of inspiration. However, sometimes a break is good for all involved and I will try to at least be a little more regular in my posts.

I find when I seemingly can't find any inspiration for something to talk about, it really isn't true. All I really need is to identify something for which I have something to say. The problem is, I didn't know I had something to say about it. But once it comes to my attention I can hardly type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. Something of such has been nagging at my mind trying to get enough attention to become a topic of conversation with me. It is the frequency with which I encounter those who claim to be bored.

I see quite often on FaceBook or some such public offering of inconsequential and meaningless details of life, a single entry on someone's status: BORED.

Honestly, I can't imagine it. I am rarely truly bored, and when I think I am, I can get over it pretty quick. There is always something to do, somewhere to go or a blog post waiting to be written. What I think is more often the case is the "bored" confuse anxiousness and restlessness with boredom. Being bored to me says you have abdicated your ability to think for yourself. I also think especially in this present age that we are confused with moments of not being entertained with boredom. Who can be truly bored when we have so much at our disposal? Things to listen to, watch, the rapidly expanding options with which to communicate are all before us. On my phone of all things, I can communicate with texts, email, FaceBook, Twitter, blogs, a number of ways I haven't even had the inclination to explore and, oh yes, I can actually talk to someone. And that is just my phone.

I think the difference in being bored or not bored is the ability to be by yourself successfully. Not everyone I am discovering can do this. To one, being by yourself is to be alone. To another it is solitude. They are not the same. Being alone is terrifying. The single most hellish part of Hell will be the profound aloneness those who choose go there will realize. Not even prayer will penetrate the blackness of Hell. No ability to reach out to anyone or anything, for help, hope or company. Grim indeed. True boredom is a preview of such.

Solitude on the other hand is far different. It is not a state of being bored or even alone even though you might be by yourself. In solitude, I can pray, I can think, I can wonder, question, read, rest, recharge and renew. I am not afraid to be in solitude. I actually like myself for company. And too, I am never truly alone. I am in contact with God. He did promise never to leave or forsake. Who can be bored in the presence of the Creator of everything? To be bored is to deny the existence of God in the present. You might believe in God, but to be bored is to deny He is anywhere near. You cannot be bored in the presence of God.

The next time you are thinking of letting the world know of your updated status with the single word: BORED, reconsider. It is true or is it telling you something else? Have you lost your purpose? Are you in spiritual desertion, denying the reality of God in your present? There are plenty of options be being bored. Boredom is giving up, being dependent upon something external to keep us entertained. A recent study of those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury depriving them of use of limbs and the ability to speak revealed something interesting. Living with "Locked In Syndrome" and only being able to communicate through eye blinks, they have found a way to thrive. A majority of those who were surveyed were able to communicate that they were happy with their lives. Imagine that! And so many who have everything available to them, the full use of their bodies allow themselves the luxury of boredom.

We can do better.