Our Puritan, New England forefathers and foremothers had this idea about idleness: it was no good. And yes, idleness is not really a good thing. Sloth is one of those deadly sins; we should work, because God wants us to work. A productive life is a good life. We are all on a mission. There are many platitudes about the virtues of work, and keeping busy.

We reward people who clock in 70 hour weeks; they are not wasting their time. They are providing for their families, they have their priorities straight. A full schedule book is what we're supposed to aim for. We need to fill our time, somehow.

But there is a consequence of a life that is filled to the brim with things to do: we are going to be overly concerned with our schedules, and not concerned by what's happening around us.

I found it very interesting when Rick Warren said that the opposite of Sensitivity is Busy-ness. While I am not generally a huge fan of making up hyphenated words, he's right. I had never really thought of keeping busy as a "bad" thing. When we ask someone how he's doing, and he answers, "Oh, you know, keeping busy," we don't turn around and start praying for his soul or anything. His answer is supposed to convey normalcy. That's what our natural state of being is supposed to be.

But filling one's life to the brim with things at the cost of loving others is a problem.

Lately, I've been considering this; things have been pretty hectic and busy, and it's true. I don't have the same time I used to have. I often find myself realizing I haven't spoken with a good friend or immediate relative in weeks... or seen them in months. So much happens in life that it's easy to forget that a lot happens in others', too.

I miss out on some of the good stuff.

But the more pressing issue is that a lot of bad stuff can happen in other people's lives, and I completely miss that, too. And it's important to be aware of that.

I think that the individualistic nature of American culture can shoulder some of the blame here. We're kind of taught that it's our lives, our own little islands, that we need to be concerned about; let others deal with their issues, and we'll deal with ours, and everything's fine. But that isn't really how it's supposed to be.

We do need to step back, take a minute, and take stock of things around us. Because we are meant to be involved in each others' lives, and we do need to be invested in each other. If we're too busy to see when other people need help, then we're not doing such a great job at this love thing. And it's a big deal, since Jesus said so.