“I can’t help, sorry; I’m too busy.”

Everyone tells me that they are busy. It has become the standard response whenever I ask anyone how their week has been. It doesn’t matter what their life situation is, whether they are a working single mother or a long-term retiree, it is a badge of honour to claim busyness. If we are busy, we are important. We want to let others know that we are important people whose calendars are full.

Yet we find the time for the things that matter to us. However genuinely busy your life is, you need to eat and sleep. You need to spend time with the people that are important to you. If you’re a believer, you need to carve out time to read your Bible, to pray, and to be involved with your local church. Busy people often still have hobbies and they still watch TV; these are things that remain an important part of their lives.

There is an old saying: if you want something done, ask a busy person. It’s true. Busy people are used to making time for things that matter. Busyness is not something that means you cannot possibly do anything else.

I have increasingly seen people use busyness as a reason not to serve in the church family. Some cannot help on Sunday rosters because they are too busy. Some who used to come to church every week now come less regularly; they decide whether church fits into their schedule week by week rather than coming all the time.

The truth is that much of the service in any church is done by busy people. Many who serve as elders or ministry leaders have high-level responsible jobs and family commitments. They don’t magically have more hours in the day than others do; they simply decide that serving God is a priority and they make the time for it. Busyness should not be an excuse very often. We make the time for what matters. If we consistently choose not to make time for something like serving in church, that is a sign that it doesn’t really matter that much to you. You might think it does in your mind, but it is your actions that show whether this is true or not.

Yes, there are times when genuine busyness means we cannot serve. It would be wrong to expect a mother of very small children to serve extensively in church. Some people have overwhelming jobs that take all their time and energy. But if we are always busy with other things, and church and service never seem to happen, then we need to admit we have a problem.

For some people, busyness is more of an illusion than a reality. We fill the time we have so we feel busy. What is filling our time? Our discretionary time, the time outside of work and set commitments? Sometimes it is hours of social media or YouTube consumption. Sometimes it is hobbies or internet browsing. These things make us feel like we are busy but they do not add much value to our lives. Having a life full of activities is normal; we get some say over which activities we will spend time and energy on.

We all have the same number of hours in a day. Some things should be non-negotiable. Church matters for your Christian growth; becoming less regular is a bigger issue than we tend to think. We might wake up one day and realise that we haven’t really prayed for a long time, and we have become disconnected from our brothers and sisters in Christ. And for what? Were the other activities worth this cost?

Being busy is normal. Make sure you are busy with the right things that show love for God and for your neighbours.