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THE FAX OF LIFE

A Weekly Service To The Business Community From SVCC

THE ANTIDOTE TO BOREDOM
By Rick Warren

Chronic boredom afflicts millions of Americans in the 1990s.

We hear it in our conversations:
"It's the same old grind...Are we having fun yet?...Thank God it's Friday."
We reveal it by our habits:
TV channel surfing with a remote control...leaving ballgames early...
We feel it in our bodies:
Advertisers appeal to our lack of energy and emotional fatigue...
Drug and alcohol use are major social issues.

I've noticed three things in our society that have amplified our boredom:

Increased choices without improvement. How is it possible to now have 54 channels on my cable TV and still have nothing worthwhile to watch many nights?
Increased speed without direction. Everything gets done faster now. But for what purpose? A treadmill is still a treadmill, regardless of its speed. Alice in Wonderland said "I have to run real fast just to stay in place." Never confuse activity with productivity. We may be like the pilot lost over the Pacific who radioed back, "I don't know where I'm headed but I'm making record time!"
Increased thrills without satisfaction. Never have we had more to stimulate our senses. We've made the weekend escape a national preoccupation. But the half-life of new thrills and fads is getting shorter and shorter.

WHAT IS THE ANTIDOTE?

NOT more money: You can't buy your way out of boredom- ask any billionaire.
NOT more success: Success only creates a thirst for more- ask the superstars.
You need a change of attitude: You need ENTHUSIASM. Enthusiasm comes from two Greek words: "EN" - meaning "in" - and "THEOS" - the Greek word for "God." Here's the point: Genuine enthusiasm is not a matter of psyching yourself up, but it is the natural result of getting in the center of God's Plan for your life. Do what God made you to do and be what God made you to be... and your boredom will vanish!
"The backslider gets bored with himself; the godly man's life is exciting." Pr. 14:14 (LB)
Until next week...
FOL#67
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