What to Do When You're Touching Your Body Out of Boredom
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
(1 Corinthians 10:31)Boredom can open the door to mindless habits, but purpose closes it.
Parable: The Young Squirrel and the Empty Afternoon
In a tall forest filled with oak and maple trees lived a young squirrel named Lino.
Lino was quick, curious, and full of energy. But on quiet afternoons, when the forest grew still and the other animals were busy, he often found himself sitting alone on a branch with nothing to do.
One afternoon he began nervously picking at the bark of the tree. First a little, then more, until pieces of bark fell to the ground.
He didn't know why he was doing it. He was simply bored.
Soon the branch looked rough and damaged.
An older squirrel named Mira climbed up the tree and noticed the mess.
"Why are you scratching the branch?" she asked.
Lino looked down.
"I don't know," he said. "I was bored."
Mira gently pointed toward the forest.
"Look around you," she said.
Below them the forest was alive with opportunity: acorns to gather, nests to build, trees to explore.
"When your paws have nothing to do," Mira said kindly, "they will find trouble. But when you give them purpose, they build something good."
Lino nodded.
That afternoon he stopped scratching the bark and began collecting acorns instead.
By sunset he had filled a whole hollow in the tree.
And from that day on, whenever boredom visited him, he looked for something meaningful to build instead.
Moral:
Idle hands create problems, but purposeful hands build something good.
Idle hands create problems, but purposeful hands build something good.