BOREDOM

“Quality of Life Series”

1/13/05

LEADER: Did you know the longest continuous yawning reported is by a 15-year-old female patient in 1888 who yawned continuously for 5 weeks.

FROM: http://www.tanbible.com/tol_ill/tol_ill_boredom.htm

LEADER: Do you get bored easily?

How bored are you…a quote from Billy Wilder when asked How he liked a new film: "To give you an idea," he said, "the film started at eight o'clock. I looked at my watch at midnight--and it was only 8:15."

FROM: http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=181

Billy Wilder 1906-2002 Award Winning Film Director

Does that ever happen to you?

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #1

http://www.cybernation.com/victory/quotations/subjects/quotes_boresandboredom.html

“I spent a year in that town, one Sunday.”

Warwick Deeping 1877-1950

Bestselling novelist in both Europe and America in the 20’s & 30’s

LEADER: Is there a way out ya think?

We’re going to look at some solutions.

First let’s examine ourselves to see if we might be the bore:

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #2

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The way to be a bore is to say everything."

Voltaire (1694-1778) French poet, historian & satirist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #3

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"A bore is a man who has nothing to say and says it anyway."

Bert Taylor 1922- Author: The So-Called Human Race

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #4

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Bore: a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company."

Gian Vincenzo Gravina 1664 – 1718 Italian writer

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #5

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have enlightened him with ours."

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) Editor & publisher of Forbes magazine

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #6

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The worst thing about a bore is not that he won't stop talking, but that he won't let you stop listening."

Unknown

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #7

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Bores can be divided into two classes: those who have their own particular subject, and those who do not need a subject."

Alan Alexander Milne 1882-1956 British author,

Creator of Winnie the Pooh

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #8

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/boredom/

“A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.”

Gian Vincenzo Gravina 1664 – 1718 Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #9

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.”

John Updike 1932- Author/Poet

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #10

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_boredom.html

“Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you're really a yawn if it goes.”

Bette Midler, Actress/Singer

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #11

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“Everyone is a bore to someone. That is unimportant. The thing to avoid is being a bore to oneself.”
Gerald Brenan 1892-1987 Maltan born author

LEADER: Have you ever listened to yourself and realized “Oh no I sound just like who I didn’t think I’d ever sound like…and no one is listening…or they’re just pretending to listen to be nice…maybe in a case like that it’s time to cut bait, cut the losses and get a new act. Because…

The first thing to do is to avoid being a bore and the second thing is to avoid spending time with one at all cost.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #12

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.”
Samuel Butler 1835-1902 Author

LEADER: Now let’s talk about “being bored”

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “What is Boredom?”

boredom#article

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Boredom, or ennui (a French word, from Old French enui) is a reactive state to wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious stimuli: suffering from a lack of interesting things to see, hear, etc., or do (physically or intellectually), while not in the mood of "doing nothing". Temporarily being in a situation of boredom may also be felt as a waste of time, but then it is usually considered worse than just that. Alternatively one may have the feeling that boredom is caused by having too much time. Boredom can also be a symptom of Clinical depression

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #13

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_boredom.html

“Boredom: the desire for desires.”

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910 Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #14

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“Boredom is like a pitiless zooming in on the epidermis of time. Every instant is dilated and magnified like the pores of the face.
Jean Baudrillard 1929- philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #15

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Bores_And_Boredom

“The devil's name is dullness.”

Robert E. Lee 1807-1870, American Confederate Army Commander

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #16

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way."

Wayne Dyer 1940- Motivational Speaker/Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #17

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Bores_And_Boredom

“When people are bored it is primarily with themselves”

Eric Hoffer 1902-1983, American Author, Philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #18

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom."

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #19

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.”

Zelda Fitzgerald 1900 –1948 Author married to F.Scott Fitzgerald

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #20

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Anyone bored these days is not paying attention."

Bill Copeland, Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #21

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Bores_And_Boredom

“My mother told me as a boy (repeatedly) ''Ever to confess you're bored means you have no inner Resources.'' I conclude now I have no inner resources, because I am heavy bored.”

John Berryman 1914-1972, American Poet

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “The Doldrums”

http://www.tanbible.com/tol_ill/tol_ill_boredom.htm

Nothing was so feared by seamen in the days when ocean vessels were driven by wind and sail as the doldrums. The doldrums is a part of the ocean near the equator, abounding calms, squalls, and light, baffling winds. There the weather is hot and extremely dispiriting. The old sailing vessels, when caught in doldrums, would lie helpless for days and weeks, waiting for the wind to begin to blow.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Twenty-Five Percent Alive” By Woman’s Day

http://www.tanbible.com/tol_ill/tol_ill_boredom.htm

A recent survey found that the average adult spends about one-third of his waking time bored!

Famed economist Stuart Chase once sat down to figure the calendar of his days. There is, he said, an ascending scale of human values and somewhere on it there is a line between living and mere existing. In how many hours of the week, he asked himself, had he truly and intensively lived? In how many had he just existed? Out of the 168 hours of the week he found that he had been “alive” only 40, or about 25% of the total time!

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Percentages of Boredom”

U. S. News and World Report, June 24, 1991, p. 14

http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=181

· Percentage in a 1985 survey who said that, aside from earning a living, the reason they work is to keep from getting bored: 54.

· Percentage in a 1989 survey who said they are sometimes or often bored at work: 41.

· Percentage in a 1990 survey who said they are generally bored by what goes on in Washington: 48.

· Percentage in a 1991 survey of 7th through 12th graders who said they are tired or bored at school: 70.

· Percentage in a 1991 survey of teenagers who said they drink alcohol because they are bored: 25.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #22

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"If you're bored with life — you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things — you don't have enough goals."

Lou Holtz 1937- American football coach

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #23

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

""I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils - boredom, vice, and want.""

Voltaire 1694-1778 French poet, historian & satirist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #24

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Bores_And_Boredom

“Only those who want everything done for them are bored.”

Billy Graham 1918-, American Evangelist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #25

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"He who seeks rest finds boredom. . . . He who seeks work finds rest."

unknown

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #26

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."

Thomas Szasz 1920- Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #27

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Ellen Parr, 1893-1967 Author

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #28

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored."

Wayne Dyer 1940- Author/Psychotherapist/Motivational Speaker

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #29

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Is not life a hundred times too short to bore ourselves?"

Freidrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #30

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

“Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.”
Bertrand Russell 1872-1970 British philosopher, logician, essayist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Fireman’s Holiday”

http://www.tanbible.com/tol_ill/tol_ill_boredom.htm

In the firehouses of Norman Rockwell’s bucolic America, fireman passed the hours between alarms playing checkers and showing off the polished brass and bright-red trucks to wide-eyed young visitors. But for the volunteer firemen of Genoa, Texas, in suburban Houston, that was not enough.

In the past three years, eight bored Genoa firemen have set about 40 fires in abandoned buildings and grass fields. As soon as the blazes were going, the arsonists would dash back to the firehouse and rush off to put out their own fires.

The Genoa firemen were quite busy until they made the mistake of setting fire to a barn owned by the brother of a Houston fire department official. An investigation of the blaze led to the Genoa firehouse, and the overeager fire fighters were exposed. Explained one of the firemen charged with arson: “We’d hang around the station on the night shift without a thing to do. We just wanted to get the red light flashing and the bells clanging.

LEADER: We have learned that boredom can lead to wasted time, mischief, sin, unmet dreams and goals, depression…let’s take a closer look and find the cure:

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #1 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333

A ten-year-old boy was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Influenced by the threat of nuclear war and the reality of terrorist attacks around the world, the boy thought for a moment and then replied with just one word: “Alive.”
All of us join him in his wish. The love of life lies deep in the human soul. Jesus summed up his mission to earth with these famous words: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” John 10:10. One man said that he used to hate getting up in the morning because he didn’t like his own life. Sin had gripped him so deeply that he didn’t care if he lived or died. Then he met Jesus. “Now I love my life. I love my family and I love my work. I’m overwhelmed everyday. I know that Christians are supposed to look forward to heaven, but I don’t want to die yet because I’m having so much fun.”

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #2 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333
Boredom is a combination of weariness, listlessness, apathy and unconcern that causes a person to feel like doing nothing. Related words include dreariness, flatness, lethargic, and dull. To the bored person, the world is all shades of gray. When you are bored, there is nothing to do because there is nothing to do that matters. To the younger generation, one word encapsulates boredom, the all-purpose answer, “Whatever.” “Did you hear what I said?” “Whatever.” “I thought that was a great movie.” “Whatever.” The word “whatever” in that sense means, “I don’t even care enough to give you an answer.”

LEADER: There are two primary causes of boredom.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overstimulation”

FROM: “Overcoming Boredom” #3 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333
The first is overstimulation. We live in a society that encourages us to believe that more is better. If a little of anything is good, then more will always be better. If one drink is good, two is better, and five will send you to heaven. If one pill helps, two is a kicker, three is a party, and five will knock you out. We see this in relationships as people jump from one person to another. We see it in the pressure to constantly move “up the ladder,” so people hop from one job to another, hoping to find the perfect fit. And we move from city to city, and from church to church. We make friends, keep them for a while, get to know them, and then we move on to someone else. Advertisers prey on this tendency when they urge us to buy more, buy new, buy now. We are so bombarded with images, with lights and sound and noise that we’ve grown accustomed to it. Why it is that the TV must always be on in the average American home? Why is it that we must have noise in the background or we feel uncomfortable? We are a TV-addicted generation. According to the Center for Media Education, most children watch three to four hours of TV a day, approximately 28 hours per week. “Watching TV is the #1 after-school activity for 6 to 17 year olds. Each year most children spend about 1,500 hours in front of the TV and 900 hours in the classroom. By age 70, most people will have spent about ten years watching TV.” By age 21 the average viewer will have seen one million TV commercials. Teenagers see 100,000 alcohol commercials before reaching legal drinking age. “Children who watch four or more hours of TV per day spend less time on school work, have poorer reading skills, play less well with friends, and have fewer hobbies than children who watch less TV.” We are so overstimulated by TV, radio, music, movies, the Internet, and by video games, that we are hyped up, tense, wound up tight, and as a result, easily bored and quickly distracted.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Undercommitment”

FROM: “Overcoming Boredom” #3 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333
The second cause of boredom is undercommitment. This is partly a result of the massive overstimulation. Too many people live at the 20% level of commitment. We’re like the man who, when asked what he believed, replied, “A little bit of everything.” We are like customers in a cafeteria line. We have a “little of this” and a “little of that” and not much of anything. We are 20% committed to our marriage, 20% committed to our work, 20% committed to our relationships, 20% committed to our families, 20% committed to our careers, 20% committed to our church, and we end up being 20% committed to Jesus Christ. No wonder we are frustrated. No wonder we are antsy. No wonder we are bored. We aren’t committed enough to anything to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #3 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333
Underneath all this is a deeper problem. Boredom comes from an excessive self-focus. Bored people are essentially selfish people who view the universe through their own stunted perspective. The reason you are bored is because you have become a boring person. To be truthful, you are bored with yourself. The problem is not “out there” somewhere. Look inside if you want the answer. Lest I be misunderstood, I do not think busyness is the answer to boredom. Busy people are often very bored. They use their busyness to mask their inner emptiness.

LEADER: “Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

If I am playing computer solitaire, it is a sure sign that I am bored. When I am bored, I can stare at the screen and click for hours.

If not computer solitaire, you probably indulge in other behaviors when you are bored. Everyone does, because boredom comes upon us all.

Having said that, however, there are two kinds of boredom: unavoidable boredom and avoidable boredom.

· Unavoidable boredom is partly due to the way each of us is made and partly due to the effects of sin.

· Avoidable boredom is the result of our participation in a culture of entertainment that so many of us have embraced. This boredom can and must be overcome.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Unavoidable Boredom”

From: “Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

Boredom is one of the results of the Fall. When God pronounced His judgment on Adam, He said,

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food . . .Genesis 3:17b-19a

While few of us may till the soil, all of us toil. As much as we may love our jobs, there will be days when we slog along in boredom. As the Preacher said, “All things are wearisome, more than I can say” Ecclesiastes 1:8a.

In a fallen world, some days are like that.

And just as surely as each of us has been created with a certain hair color, stature, and hand size, so each of us has been created with a certain personality. That includes certain likes and dislikes. For one personality, cooking is a joy, for another it’s a boring chore. We’re wired differently.

There is also a boredom—for too many an unavoidable boredom—that is beyond the world-weariness that comes from living under the Curse. Some boredom is a sign of depression, that state of mind and heart where, as someone put it, “nothing tastes.” The causes of depression and the destructive boredom that attends it run the fine—and often debated—line between sin and disease. The Fall cuts deeper than we would like to believe.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Avoidable Boredom”

“Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04 EXCERPT

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

Avoidable boredom comes from over-stimulation in our culture of entertainment. Entertainment is not a bad thing in itself. Stories, music, hobbies, films, and even occasional TV shows add refreshment to our lives in this weary world. Problems arise because the law of diminishing returns is at work in much of our entertainment. We are left wanting more.

Richard Winter says in his book Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment, “When stimulation comes at us from every side, we reach a point where we cannot respond with much depth to anything. Bombarded with so much that is exciting and demands our attention, we tend to become unable to discriminate and choose from among the many options. The result is that we shut down our attention to everything.” That is, we get bored.

Over-stimulated and bored, we begin our search for something—anything—that will lift our jaded spirits. According to Richard Winter, this explains the rise in extreme sports, aggression, and sexual addiction in our culture. It also explains the increasingly graphic content of television and the rise of reality TV, which becomes more bizarre with each new show. “The enticements to more exciting things have to get louder to catch our dulled attention,” he writes. The excitement level must rise and rise, and since we are always anticipating the next experience, we never fully invest in any activity.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Boredom and Worldview”

FROM: “Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04 EXCERPT

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

This has enormous implications for a Christian worldview and Christian spirituality. Thinking and praying are demanding activities that force us to go deep. Entertainment keeps us shallow. Developing a Christian worldview and spirituality takes effort that does not, for the most part, come in sound bites or video images. It comes, instead, through reading, thought, reflection, prayer, worship, and conversation.

LEADER: “A Sense of Wonder”

FROM: “Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04 EXCERPT

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

The solution is to cultivate a sense of wonder.

By wonder I mean two things: the silent, wide-eyed wonder in the face of a child as he stares at dinosaur skeletons at the museum and the noisy, knitted-brow wonder of the same child as he asks, “Why?” and drives us back to the Source of all things. Wonder is a combination of amazement and curiosity that is vital to both thinking and prayer.

What does it take to develop a Christian worldview? “Wonder and a library card.” What does it take to develop a deep spirituality? I would answer in a similar way, “Wonder and a church.” A library card is useless without the inner wonder that makes you want to read. Similarly, church attendance, Scripture reading, and prayer are of little consequence without the kind of heart the psalmist exhibits as he gazes at the works of God and wonders.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Psalm 8:3-4

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Spectator Risks” Our Daily Bread 12/16/02

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/odb-12-16-02.shtml

Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again. —Hebrews 5:12

Even the weakest among us can participate in sports, but only the strongest can survive as spectators. According to a heart specialist, when you become a spectator rather than a participant, the wrong things go up and the wrong things come down. Body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol, and triglycerides go up. Vital capacity, oxygen consumption, flexibility, stamina, and strength go down.

Being an onlooker in the arena of Christian living is also risky. The wrong things go up, and the wrong things come down. Criticism, discouragement, disillusionment, and boredom go up. Sensitivity to sin and the needs of others, and receptivity to the Word of God go down. Sure, there's a certain amount of thrill and excitement in hearing someone's testimony about how God has worked. But it's nothing like knowing that joy yourself. There's no substitute for piling up your own experiences of faith, and using your own God-given abilities in behalf of others.

If we're to be maturing and growing stronger as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to venture out in faith—and that's risky. But remember, it's a far greater risk to be only a spectator. (Mart De Haan II)

God calls us to get into the game, not to keep the score.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Room to Grow” By Rubel Shelly

http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200007/20000722_grow.html

One of the common complaints of people in our time is the monotony and boredom of life. I have a sneaking suspicion that this slant on life contributes to what we call “burnout.” I suspect it also plays a role in certain high-risk behaviors that range from driving too fast to getting caught up in a marriage-destroying affair to experimenting with drugs.

Monotony and boredom are self-inflicted wounds to the human spirit. If you have a routine, lackluster, and sometimes tedious job, that does not mean you have to live a routine, lackluster, and tedious life. Maybe you need to change jobs. But that’s not always possible — or necessary. Maybe you simply need to give yourself some additional space to grow.

Perhaps you’ve been to the fair and seen cucumbers grown inside soda bottles or pumpkins in gallon jugs. Young plants placed inside containers grow to the space they have. They take on the contours and limits of their surroundings.

I understand it works with animals too. Put a young fish whose species normally grows reasonably large into a tiny aquarium, and its full adult size will be suppressed because of the strictly limited space it was given.

The same thing is true of people. We grow to the intellectual space we have. We take on the dull or positive contours of our emotional environments. We are big-hearted or parsimonious (frugal to the point of stinginess) due to the spiritual influences that mold us. But this is not to say that we are the helpless victims of circumstances beyond our control. No matter your job or current life predicament, you can choose the setting for your soul. You can give yourself some room to grow.

For your body: eat sensibly, get enough sleep, exercise regularly, and stay away from tobacco and alcohol. For your mind: read good literature, listen to inspirational-educational cassettes in your car, expand your vocabulary, and keep clear of the pollution of pornography and vulgarity. For your spirit: worship, meditate on Scripture, invest yourself in service to others, and refuse to live in the spiritual bondage of cynicism or bitterness over a “bad break” life has dealt you.

To be a big-hearted, great-souled person is not the unanticipated destiny of a privileged few. It is the preordained outcome for anyone who chooses to look beyond limitation to possibility and learns to see an opportunity in every problem.

LEADER: “Overcoming Boredom” #4 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333
Is boredom a sin. Good question. After contemplating the matter, I think the answer is that sin and boredom go together, but I would rather say that boredom is a disease of the soul. It is a warning sign from God that there is a “dis-ease” in your heart that must be faced. Boredom is a sign that your life is moving in the wrong direction.
How can we overcome boredom? It requires a reorientation of the way we approach each day. I’d like to combine two very familiar verses—Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Colossians 3:17—in order to find a biblical answer to boredom.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Colossians 3:17

¹⁷Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Ecclesiastes 9:10

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #5 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333

Eugene Peterson’s translation (The Message) offers a punchier version of this phrase: “Whatever turns up, grab it and do it.” I like that because it emphasizes the unpredictable nature of life. No matter how well planned your day may be, something unexpected is always bound to “turn up.” When it does, grab it and do it. That’s good advice. The deeper meaning of this phrase challenges us to take hold of the ordinary responsibilities of life and make sure they get done. It’s easy for any of us to live in the never-never land of what we plan to do tomorrow. So we dream about starting a diet or getting a new job or buying a new computer or meeting the person of our dreams or somehow finishing that term paper or painting the living room or learning French or calling on a new client or applying for a grant or going back to college, or any of a thousand other worthwhile ideas. Meanwhile, there is work to be done, much of it tedious, that somehow gets left undone while we are dreaming about what we are going to do “someday.” Unfortunately, someday never comes for many people.
“One good deed is worth more than a thousand brilliant theories,” said Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Better to do what you need to do than to waste four hours dreaming about what you would like to do. When Solomon says, “Whatever your hand finds to do,” he doesn’t mean, “If your hand happens to find something to do, do it, and if not, then take the day off and watch TV.” No! Your hand will always find something to do. There is always work to be done.
Life is—a whole bunch of duties large and small that “someone” has to do. It won’t do to complain and say, “I don’t feel like doing it.” Your feelings don’t matter. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it! This is the Word of God. We all have work to do, we all have chores, jobs, responsibilities, assignments in life. No one gets a free ride. You can’t stay in bed forever.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #6 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333 One of the best cures for boredom is to get involved helping others. One doctor said that whenever a patient comes to him complaining of vague symptoms with no medical cause, he tells them to “crawl out of yourself.” It means to crawl out of the cave of self-pity and get involved in the world of hurting people. Recently I watched a PBS special on the life of Prince Charles. The documentary noted that Charles was devastated by the death of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, who was murdered by the Irish Republican Army in 1979. Lord Mountbatten was the only man who had truly been a father figure to Charles. After the death of his mentor, Charles consoled himself by recalling the advice his great-uncle had given him. “Banish your sorrow through service to others,” he told young Charles. That is very wise counsel. Famed psychiatrist Karl Menninger was once asked, “What should you do if you feel a nervous breakdown coming on?” Everyone expected him to say, “See a psychiatrist,” but he replied, “Lock the door of your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need and do something to help that person.”
You’ve probably seen the following quotation many times. It’s over 200 years old and comes originally from the Quakers. “I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
It is very difficult to be bored when you are giving yourself to help those around you. Boredom comes when we focus on our own needs. Crawl outside yourself and your problems will seem smaller and your boredom will soon disappear.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Overcoming Boredom” #6 EXCERPT

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=61717&ContributorID=10333

Not only are we to do whatever lies close at hand, we are to tackle our work with gusto. The Puritans talked often about the importance of earnestness. That’s an old word, one we don’t hear much nowadays, but it perfectly describes how Christians should approach life. Life is too short, too fragile, and too precious to take lightly. Whatever we do, we should do it heartily, with enthusiasm, with passion, with zeal, with 100% commitment.

The biblical view of work is that all work is noble if it is done for the glory of God. Even the most mundane task is worthwhile if we do it in the right spirit. Martin Luther said that a dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God. If your job is shoveling manure, than do your best and shovel that manure for the glory of God. And if you do it well, you honor God just as much as the brain surgeon who saves someone’s life.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, do your work heartily,as for the Lord rather than for men.

LEADER: “A Sense of Wonder” CONTINUED

FROM: “Rediscovering Wonder” By Jim Tonkowich 2/09/04 EXCERPT

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Daily_Devotions1&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11633 From Breakpoint Magazine

Reading, studying, thinking, prayer, worship, and solitude can be highly stimulating for those who still wonder.

LEADER: Here are some tips:

1. Continuing education…reading books from the library, taking a class at a local college, learning a new program on the computer, catching PBS Assignment Discovery, learning a new hobby, find a creative outlet.

2. Spiritual growth…challenge yourself to scripture memorization, read the Bible cover to cover in a year, join a Bible Study group.

3. Exercize…a fit body makes for a sharper mind.

4. Service…serving your community, your friends, your church.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #31

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"Self education can be a bulwark against the boredom of retirement. More importantly, in today's dynamic world, without continuing education one is quickly pushed into the category of the relatively unlearned. Self-education involves thinking, and thinking is hard work." Lavor K. Chaffin, American newspaper education editor, Deseret News

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #32

http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/topics/boredom/?page=10

"The full-grown modern human being who seeks but refuge finds instead boredom and mental dissolution, unless he can be, even in his withdrawal, creative. He can find the quality of happiness in the strain and travail only of achievement and growth. And he is conscious of touching the highest pinnacle of fulfillment which his life-urges demand when his is consumed in the service of an idea, in the conquest of the goal pursued."

R. Briffault, Author

LEADER: QUOTE #33

http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Boredom/1/index.html

“Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.”
Dale Carnegie, Author/Motivational Speaker

STOP AT 10 TILL FOR

PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISES:

CUT AND DISTRIBUTE FOR READING:

QUOTE #1

“I spent a year in that town, one Sunday.”

Warwick Deeping 1877-1950

Bestselling novelist in both Europe and America in the 20’s & 30’s

QUOTE #2

"The way to be a bore is to say everything."

Voltaire (1694-1778) French poet, historian & satirist

QUOTE #3

"A bore is a man who has nothing to say and says it anyway."

Bert Taylor 1922- Author: The So-Called Human Race

QUOTE #4

"Bore: a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company."

Gian Vincenzo Gravina 1664 – 1718 Italian writer

QUOTE #5

"A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have enlightened him with ours."

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) Editor & publisher of Forbes magazine

QUOTE #6

"The worst thing about a bore is not that he won't stop talking, but that he won't let you stop listening."

Unknown

QUOTE #7

"Bores can be divided into two classes: those who have their own particular subject, and those who do not need a subject."

Alan Alexander Milne 1882-1956 British author, Creator of Winnie the Pooh

QUOTE #8

“A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.”

Gian Vincenzo Gravina 1664 – 1718 Author

QUOTE #9

“A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.”

John Updike 1932- Author/Poet

QUOTE #10

“Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you're really a yawn if it goes.”

Bette Midler, Actress/Singer

QUOTE #11

“Everyone is a bore to someone. That is unimportant. The thing to avoid is being a bore to oneself.”
Gerald Brenan 1892-1987 Maltan born author

QUOTE #12

“The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.”
Samuel Butler 1835-1902 Author

“What is Boredom?”

QUOTE #13

“Boredom: the desire for desires.”

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910 Author

QUOTE #14

“Boredom is like a pitiless zooming in on the epidermis of time. Every instant is dilated and magnified like the pores of the face.
Jean Baudrillard 1929- philosopher

QUOTE #15

“The devil's name is dullness.”

Robert E. Lee 1807-1870, American Confederate Army Commander

QUOTE #16

"The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way."

Wayne Dyer 1940- Motivational Speaker/Author

QUOTE #17

“When people are bored it is primarily with themselves”

Eric Hoffer 1902-1983, American Author, Philosopher

QUOTE #18

"The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom."

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher

QUOTE #19

“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.”

Zelda Fitzgerald 1900 –1948 Author married to F.Scott Fitzgerald

QUOTE #20

"Anyone bored these days is not paying attention."

Bill Copeland, Author

QUOTE #21

“My mother told me as a boy (repeatedly) ''Ever to confess you're bored means you have no inner Resources.'' I conclude now I have no inner resources, because I am heavy bored.”

John Berryman 1914-1972, American Poet

“The Doldrums”

“Twenty-Five Percent Alive”

A recent survey found that the average adult spends about one-third of his waking time bored!

“Percentages of Boredom”

· Percentage in a 1985 survey who said that, aside from earning a living, the reason they work is to keep from getting bored: 54.

· Percentage in a 1989 survey who said they are sometimes or often bored at work: 41.

· Percentage in a 1990 survey who said they are generally bored by what goes on in Washington: 48.

· Percentage in a 1991 survey of 7th through 12th graders who said they are tired or bored at school: 70.

· Percentage in a 1991 survey of teenagers who said they drink alcohol because they are bored: 25.

QUOTE #22

"If you're bored with life — you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things — you don't have enough goals."

Lou Holtz 1937- American football coach

QUOTE #23

Voltaire 1694-1778 French poet, historian & satirist

QUOTE #24

“Only those who want everything done for them are bored.”

Billy Graham 1918-, American Evangelist

QUOTE #25

"He who seeks rest finds boredom. . . . He who seeks work finds rest."

unknown

QUOTE #26

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."

Thomas Szasz 1920- Author

QUOTE #27

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Ellen Parr, 1893-1967 Author

QUOTE #28

"Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored."

Wayne Dyer 1940- Author/Psychotherapist/Motivational Speaker

QUOTE #29

"Is not life a hundred times too short to bore ourselves?"

Freidrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher

QUOTE #30

“Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.”
Bertrand Russell 1872-1970 British philosopher, logician, essayist

“Fireman’s Holiday”

“Overcoming Boredom” #1

“Overcoming Boredom” #2

Boredom is a combination of weariness, listlessness, apathy and unconcern that causes a person to feel like doing nothing. Related words include dreariness, flatness, lethargic, and dull. To the bored person, the world is all shades of gray. When you are bored, there is nothing to do because there is nothing to do that matters. To the younger generation, one word encapsulates boredom, the all-purpose answer, “Whatever.” “Did you hear what I said?” “Whatever.” “I thought that was a great movie.” “Whatever.” The word “whatever” in that sense means, “I don’t even care enough to give you an answer.”

“Overstimulation”

The first is overstimulation. We live in a society that encourages us to believe that more is better. If a little of anything is good, then more will always be better. If one drink is good, two is better, and five will send you to heaven. If one pill helps, two is a kicker, three is a party, and five will knock you out. We see this in relationships as people jump from one person to another. We see it in the pressure to constantly move “up the ladder,” so people hop from one job to another, hoping to find the perfect fit. And we move from city to city, and from church to church. We make friends, keep them for a while, get to know them, and then we move on to someone else. Advertisers prey on this tendency when they urge us to buy more, buy new, buy now. We are so bombarded with images, with lights and sound and noise that we’ve grown accustomed to it. Why it is that the TV must always be on in the average American home? Why is it that we must have noise in the background or we feel uncomfortable? We are a TV-addicted generation. According to the Center for Media Education, most children watch three to four hours of TV a day, approximately 28 hours per week. “Watching TV is the #1 after-school activity for 6 to 17 year olds. Each year most children spend about 1,500 hours in front of the TV and 900 hours in the classroom. By age 70, most people will have spent about ten years watching TV.” By age 21 the average viewer will have seen one million TV commercials. Teenagers see 100,000 alcohol commercials before reaching legal drinking age. “Children who watch four or more hours of TV per day spend less time on school work, have poorer reading skills, play less well with friends, and have fewer hobbies than children who watch less TV.” We are so overstimulated by TV, radio, music, movies, the Internet, and by video games, that we are hyped up, tense, wound up tight, and as a result, easily bored and quickly distracted.

“Undercommitment”

The second cause of boredom is undercommitment. This is partly a result of the massive overstimulation. Too many people live at the 20% level of commitment. We’re like the man who, when asked what he believed, replied, “A little bit of everything.” We are like customers in a cafeteria line. We have a “little of this” and a “little of that” and not much of anything. We are 20% committed to our marriage, 20% committed to our work, 20% committed to our relationships, 20% committed to our families, 20% committed to our careers, 20% committed to our church, and we end up being 20% committed to Jesus Christ. No wonder we are frustrated. No wonder we are antsy. No wonder we are bored. We aren’t committed enough to anything to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

“Overcoming Boredom” #3

Underneath all this is a deeper problem. Boredom comes from an excessive self-focus. Bored people are essentially selfish people who view the universe through their own stunted perspective. The reason you are bored is because you have become a boring person. To be truthful, you are bored with yourself. The problem is not “out there” somewhere. Look inside if you want the answer. Lest I be misunderstood, I do not think busyness is the answer to boredom. Busy people are often very bored. They use their busyness to mask their inner emptiness.

“Unavoidable Boredom”

Boredom is one of the results of the Fall. When God pronounced His judgment on Adam, He said,

In a fallen world, some days are like that.

Boredom and Worldview”

Psalm 8:3-4

“Avoidable Boredom”